Untitled
by YuYuHakushoObsesser
Summary: Kiren isn't your normal every day girl. And she's very secretive. What could she be hiding? Read to find out!
1. Chapter 1

Yelling. That's all one could ever hear at Kiren's house. Her parents were currently at it again. She wasn't quite sure what it entirely entailed, but she heard something about her good-for-nothing father not being able to keep a job or something like that. Everything normally went in one ear and out the other, but tonight she wanted a break from it. She walked downstairs, snuck past the kitchen doorway and quietly went outside.

There was a thunderstorm going on, but that didn't stop her; to her, this was the most perfect weather ever. She looked up and down her street, debating which way she was going to go. They had just moved here over the weekend and she hadn't had time to explore yet. She saw a forest in the distance and started walking towards it. One of her past times was walking through a forest, finding a clearing and just sitting there where it was peaceful and quiet. It didn't take her long to find the clearing.

It was a really big clearing. It even had a little pond in the middle of it with a big rock next to it that she could sit on. 'Perfect,' she thought to herself. She sat on the rock and looked up at the weeping sky.

"Maybe I should move out here," she laughed at herself. She heard a snap of a twig behind her; she whipped around and quickly jumped into a tree. A group of people walked into the clearing, two of them being obnoxiously loud.

"Kuwabara, I thought you said it was right here!" yelled a kid with slicked back black hair, wearing a green school outfit at a really tall orange haired kid in the same outfit but blue. She figured the orange haired kid to be Kuwabara

"I told ya Urameshi, it was right here!" yelled Kuwabara.

'Ugh, please, don't talk again,' Kiren thought to herself, 'his voice is so annoying.'

"Well, where is it then ya big balooka?! Cuz I don't see anything here unless it's invisible!" yelled the other kid.

"Stop it you two, this is getting us no where," said the red haired one that was in a purplish school outfit.

"That and it's very annoying and loud. I'm sure every demon from here to kingdom come can hear the two of you," replied the short black haired one wearing nothing but a plain black outfit with a black overcoat.

"Hiei has a point, Yuske," said the red head to the slicked back black haired one, who she took as Yuske, and figured the short one was Hiei.

"Yeah yeah, Kurama. Tell me something I don't know," replied Yuske to the red head, which she gathered was Kurama.

"So what now?" asked Kuwabara.

Yuske sighed, "I don't know ya baka, your sense of energy seems to be off today."

"I'm telling ya Urameshi, it was right here!" shouted Kuwabara.

Hiei started to look around. Kiren tried hiding herself a little more to be out of sight.

"Well, I think we should get going and look a different day," replied Hiei. "It doesn't seem like we're getting anywhere here."

The group sighed. "Alright, let's meet back at my place tomorrow. Gotta make something of the time we have left before school starts back up," said Yuske.

Kuwabara groaned. "Don't remind me Urameshi. School starts in just a few days ya know."

"Yeah yeah, quit your whining. Let's go."

Everyone followed Yuske and soon, there was no one there but Kiren. Once she was sure she was alone, she jumped out of her tree.

"I wonder what that was about." She shook her head and started back home.

***A few days later***

Kiren walked down her stairs, backpack on her shoulder and was about to walk out the door when her mother started in on her.

"Kiren, where do you think you're going?"

Kiren half turned and looked at her mother, "Where do you think I'm going? I have a backpack on. It's about 7:00am. There's this thing called 'school' and it kinda starts today. I'll see you when I get home."

As Kiren walked out the door, her mother stood with her mouth open, not expecting such a response from her always silent daughter.

Kiren started towards the school, which she took the time yesterday to find. She pulled out her schedule that she had received while at the school, making sure she had it ready to find classrooms. The principle seemed nice; she hoped she wasn't going to have any issues with her teachers.

When she was close to the school, she noticed two of the boys from the other day. She had to think for a moment, but she remembered them to be Yuske and Kuwabara.

'Well, this should be interesting,' she thought to herself.

She got to the school and walked in the doors and stopped, looking around for her first class. As she was looking down at her sheet, someone rammed into her from behind. Normally, she would have fallen flat on her face, but she quickly put her hand in front of her, and flipped back to her feet.

Her would-be-assailant just stood there with his mouth open. She looked up at him and saw that it was Yuske.

"Ya know, it's impolite to stare," Kiren said as she folded her arms.

Yuske quickly closed his mouth and said, "I'm sorry about that. You must be new here. The name's Yuske."

"Kiren."

"Well, Kiren, what were ya doing with your nose in a paper?"

"I was trying to find my first class."

"Let me take a look see here." Yuske took her schedule from her and looked it over. "Ya know, if we wouldn't have just met, I'd say you were trying to stalk me."

She raised her eyebrow at him, "What ever do you mean?"

"Your schedule is the exact same as mine."

"Really?"

"Yeah, so I guess, just follow me all day."

Kiren fidgeted a little but nodded her head and proceeded to follow him.

***After school***

Kiren was walking down the street when she heard stomping feet behind her and someone shouting, "Hey Kiren! Wait up!"

She looked behind her to see Yuske running towards her. She glared at him, "Haven't you had enough of me today? What could you possibly want now?"

Yuske caught up to her, took a second to catch his breath, and replied, "I wanted to ask you a few questions now that we're not around other people."

Kiren backed up a little bit. "What do you mean 'now that we're not around other people'?"

Yuske looked at her funny, "What are you backing away from me for? It's not like I'm some pervert or anything."

"And just how would I know that? I've only met you just today."

Yuske thought for a moment, "Valid point. But I can reassure you, it's nothing along the lines of that."

She backed up a few more steps, "What do you wanna ask me?"

"About this morning, anyone else that I would've accidentally rammed into would have fallen flat on their faces, but you didn't. How did you do that?"

"It's called a lot of training at a dojo. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to get going home if I want to avoid my ears bleeding."

She turned around and started running home, with a very confused Yuske behind her. Kuwabara came up behind Yuske and patted him on the shoulder, "What ya staring at Yuske? Keiko's still at school."

Yuske shook his head, "Nothing you idiot. Let's go to my place."

Kuwabara shrugged his shoulders and followed Yuske to his house.

Kiren ran straight home, got in the door, ran up to her room and shut her door. 'What the hell was that about?' she asked herself.

"Kiren, do you want anything for dinner?" shouted her mother from the stairs.

"No, I'm good thanks," Kiren yelled back.

Her mother shook her head and started back towards the kitchen. Kiren looked out her window, debating what she should do. She didn't have any homework to do; she got everything done in class since her old school was apparently way ahead of this school that she had already covered everything. She decided to go outside for a walk again.

She walked down the stairs and was heading towards the door only to be stopped by her mother.

"And just where do you think you're going?"

"Out for a walk."

"Where to?"

"I don't know, can't I just go out for a walk?"

"Depends, do you have any homework?"

"No."

"Fine, whatever. Just don't be out too long."

"Yeah yeah," she said as she walked out the door.

Kiren shook her head as she closed the door behind her. "Why does she even bother pretending to care?"

She started off towards the forest again. As she was walking, she noticed that she was being followed. She kept walking as if she didn't notice. When she got to the clearing, she stopped and waited for any noise to indicate exactly where her stalker was. A figure caught her eye and she grabbed a pencil from her pocket and flung it at the figure.

She took a defensive position as she heard an "Ow!" from the direction she threw her pencil. The figure walked out from the trees rubbing his face. Her body tensed as she noticed it was Yuske.

She backed up a little as she asked, "Now who's stalking who?"

Yuske giggled while rubbing his face, "I wasn't trying to but I definitely won't from now on if that's what you can do with just a pencil. If I wouldn't have moved just slightly, I'd probably have lost an eye. You sure you trained at 'just' a dojo?"

She backed up a little more. "Yeah, what about it?"

"I'm not sure. Hiei, Kurama, what do you think?"

Hiei and Kurama stepped out from the trees behind Yuske. "Why are you asking us? She seems pretty human to me," retorted Hiei.

"Yes and no," replied Kurama.

Kiren backed up to the edge of the pond, "What do you mean 'seems pretty human'? What else would I be?"

Kurama giggled, "Yuske was telling us that he thought you were some sort of demon, but I don't think he's right. However, I can't be too sure. It's really hard to tell with you."

"You people are nuts." Kiren started walking the other direction. She felt one of them move from behind and she dodged just in time to avoid a katana to her face.

"You're not very friendly are you?" she asked Hiei.

"That depends on who it is," he said as he went to take another swing.

All of it was in slow motion for Kiren. She watched the directory of the blade and caught it in between her hands and snapped it in half.

"Do I qualify now?" she asked with a smirk.

Hiei looked at her for a moment, looked at what was left of his katana, threw it in the pond and started back towards Yuske and Kurama. "Hn."

"And that's supposed to mean what exactly?"

Kurama smiled, "It means he approves for now. We will see you later Kiren."

Kurama and Hiei left, while Yuske still stood there looking at her with a dumbfounded expression.

"Don't you remember? It's impolite to stare."

"Oh yeah, sorry, I was just trying to figure out how in the hell you did that."

"Did what?"

"Catch Hiei's sword and then break it in half. I can barely keep up with Hiei myself let alone catch his sword and break it."

"You really don't get what they teach you at a dojo do you? Hiei's sword was moving like a snail to me. And as for breaking it goes, it's all just a matter of physics. You don't pay attention in school much do you?"

He laughed, "What was your first clue?"

Kiren shook her head and started walking home.

"Hey, where are you going?"

"Home, where else?"

"Wanna come hang out at my place?"

She paused and half turned to look at him, "What for?"

"Just to kill some time. From what you told me after school today, you don't really seem like you want to go home anytime soon."

She eyed him with curious eyes. "Fine, whatever. Lead the way."

As they approached Yuske's place, they were met with Hiei, Kurama, and Kuwabara. Kuwabara looked from Yuske to Kiren and back to Yuske.

"What are you looking at baka?"

"Ummm, what are you doing with the new girl? Keiko's going to murder you."

Yuske punched him in the face. "You make it sound like we're dating or something. I just asked her if she wanted to come kill some time, that's it."

"Got it," came a little voice from the ground.

Yuske looked at the other two, "What are you two doing here. We don't normally have gatherings like these unless something's up."

"Koenma would like to see us," replied Kurama. He looked over at Kiren, "All of us."

Kiren looked at him, "What do you mean by 'all of us'?"

"Just as it states, he's meaning you too."

"Why me? I don't even know this dude."

"We told Koenma about you and he's very intrigued and would like to meet you."

"I think I'm going to go home now."

Hiei stood in front of her, his deep crimson eyes staring into her sterling silver ones, half covered by her matching colored, chin length hair.

"Why don't you just come with us? You never know, it could be beneficial to you."

"And just how could this be beneficial for me?"

"Wanna know? Come with us."

Kiren glared at him, but turned back towards Yuske and Kurama. "Fine, take me to wherever."

"Hey Kurama, where we meeting him at this time?" asked Yuske.

"Actually, he's right upstairs waiting for us in your bedroom."

Yuske gave him a questioning look. "That's strange, but oh well, works for me. Come on Kiren, let's go upstairs."

When she walked into Yuske's room, she couldn't believe what she saw. She had to turn away to refrain from bursting out with laughter. On Yuske's bed, there sat a little toddler with a pacifier in his mouth. Normally she would have asked if that was Yuske's little brother or not but when she looked at everyone else she noticed that they were looking at the toddler like he actually had authority or something. How anything so small could have authority, she had no idea. Then the toddler spoke, making her jump.

"I thank you very much for coming and not having any snide remarks about me being a toddler. I may look like one, but I'm actually much older than I look."

She looked at him like she was out of her mind. "And just who are you?" 'Can he read minds or something?' she thought to herself.

The toddler cleared his throat, "I am Koenma, ruler of the Spirit World. After the briefing I had with Hiei and Kurama, you seem like someone of interest; as opposed to this bonehead already working for me." He pointed his finger at Yuske.

"Hey! What's that supposed to mean ya little toddler!" screamed Yuske.

"Pipe down Yuske. Anyway, I was wondering if you would like to join our little team here. See, Yuske is what we call a Spirit Detective. He does all my spirit world deeds for me. Deeds like battling demons, entering tournaments, capturing demon criminals for me. But there are many occasions where he can't do the job by himself so we send a team in with him to get the job done. And from what I've heard from these two, you would be a spectacular asset to this little team of mine. What do you say?"

She stared at the little toddler with disbelief. 'Does he know?' she thought to herself. 'I had better play this cool like I don't know anything.'

"You want me to believe that things like spirits and demons actually exist?"

"That would be correct yes."

"You guys are more psychotic than I thought. I'm outta here."

"Would you leave us so soon, Mazuki?" asked Koenma

Kiren stopped in mid-step towards the door. She turned and looked at him wide-eyed, as did Hiei and Kurama. She kept her attention on Koenma, "How exactly do you know of that name?"

Hiei turned towards Kiren, "How would YOU know the name?"

Kiren quickly looked at Hiei. "No reason. I'm leaving."

She ran out the door, being followed by the little fire demon.

She found the tallest building she could find and climbed all the way to the top and sat on the roof.

Hiei stood right in front of her, "How do you know the name Mazuki, Kiren?"

She looked up him with a glare, "I could ask you the same thing Hiei."

"Mazuki is a legend in the demon world. How could a mere mortal know anything about her?"

"Wouldn't you like to know? Why don't you go ask her yourself?"

"I would if I could, but she's been theorized dead for centuries."

She snickered, "And how exactly does everyone think she died?"

He narrowed his eyes at her, "If you seem to know so much, why don't you tell me?"

Kiren gave him a smirk, "That's a story for another time small fry."

Hiei glared at her, "How dare you talk to me like that!"

"What? Not used to being talked to like you talk to others?"

"How would you know how I am?"

"I have my own secrets as well, Hiei of the Third Eye. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going home."

Hiei watched her retreating form with narrowed eyes. Kurama appeared from the shadows, "Why the sour look Hiei?"

"I don't trust her."

"You don't trust a lot of people, Hiei."

"There's something not right about her."

"I guess we'll just have to wait and find out, won't we?"

"Hn. Says the fox hiding in the shadows."

"I was just curious."

"About what?"

"There's more to her than meets the eye. I wanted to see if I could figure her out."

Hiei raised an eyebrow, "And?"

Kurama put his hands in the air, "And I can't. For the time being. I'm sure we'll be seeing more of her soon."

"Why do you say that?

"You'll see," he replied as he started walking away.

"Stupid Fox."


	2. Chapter 2

Kiren hadn't even bothered going home. She just kept wandering around town, no direction in particular in mind. She ended up by a railing that overlooked the whole town. It was starting to rain, making everything look beautiful to her.

She put her arms on the railing and sighed, "And just what the hell am I supposed to do now?"

"Well, you could start with getting out of the rain," came a voice from behind her.

She jumped and turned around into a defensive position. She lowered her stance a little when she saw who it was.

"Ya know, it's impolite to sneak up behind someone and scare them, Yuske."

He laughed, "You and being polite."

She smiled, "What's wrong with it?"

"Nothing, just something I noticed about you."

Kiren turned back around to look out over the town. "That's all everyone does. Notice things about me. How I'm nothing like a 'normal' person. I thought maybe I could fit in here. But I guess I was wrong. Maybe I should go back."

"Go back where?"

Kiren snapped her head up as she realized what she had said. "It's nothing, forget about it."

Yuske looked at her oddly, "Ok?"

Kiren sighed, "If you were smart, Urameshi, you'd know to stay the hell away from me." She started walking away.

"Hey, wait a minute," Yuske ran after her and grabbed her by the elbow; big mistake.

Kiren's instincts took over. She turned around, kicking Yuske into the near by tree while screaming; "Don't touch me!"

She opened her eyes and looked around herself until she found Yuske. Her eyes starting tearing up, "I'm sorry Yuske. But maybe now you'll believe me when I say you shouldn't be near me."

She ran off as Yuske steadily got up from the ground. "She's got some power to her."

Kurama appeared from behind, "That wasn't her Yuske."

He looked at Kurama confused, "What do you mean?"

"You mean you really couldn't tell?"

"Not really, clue me in."

"You've seen her defensive position before, right?"

"Yeah."

"This one was completely different. Extremely old school."

"Like how old schooled?"

"Like mine and Hiei's old school. Plus, her voice changed when she screamed at you. There was a slight musical ringing to it. And when she looked up after kicking you, she had to search around for you. If that would've been herself that kicked you, she wouldn't have to look for where you went. And when she found you, she started crying. There is a lot more to her than she lets on."

"Observant as always fox," Hiei replied from in the tree.

Yuske looked up, "What brings you here, three eyes?"

Hiei jumped down from the tree. "I heard a scream that penetrated my ears. I wanted to find the source of it and silence it."

Kurama looked over at Hiei, "Really now Hiei?"

Hiei glared at Kurama, "What are you getting at?"

Kurama smirked, "And you scold me for stalking."

Yuske looked between the two of them, "Ummmm, anyone wanna clue me in?"

"Hiei followed Kiren just like I did. Someone's just as curious as me."

"Hn."

Yuske got a big grin on his face, "Wow, shorty's actually curious about something. I'm going to have to mark this one on the calendar."

Hiei glared at Yuske, "Shut up." He walked away towards who knows where.

Kurama smiled, "This makes things very interesting."

"What does?"

Kurama chuckled and replied as he was walking away, "You'll understand in due time."

Yuske looked after the fox in confusion. "What will I understand? I really hate it when those two are cryptic with one another. Well, might as well go home."

***Kiren***

Kiren walked through the door to her house, the rain covering her tears. Her mother started in on her right away, "Where have you been young lady?! I thought I told you not to be gone for long!"

Kiren started walking up the stairs, "I wasn't gone for long. It's not even midnight yet."

"You're supposed to be home by dark! You have school in the morning."

"Yeah, yeah," she replied as she closed the door to her room; her mom scowling at the foot of the stairs. Kiren fell into her bed; face first, curling up into a little ball. 'I guess I'm going to have to leave after all.'

***Next Day***

Yuske showed up at school early, wanting to talk to Kiren before it got too busy with people. He waited until the last second before the bell rang, but Kiren never showed. He looked for her all day, but he couldn't find her anywhere. After school he ran over to Kurama's school to catch Kurama before he went home.

"Hey, Kurama, have you seen Kiren around?"

"No, I figured you would since you two go to the same school and all."

"She didn't show up for class today, I thought maybe you might've seen her roaming around or something."

"No, I haven't. But I'll look around for her and let you know if I find her."

"Thanks." And he ran off in search of Hiei. Yuske looked around and looked around town, but there was no sign of the little fire demon anywhere.

Yuske had made it to the railing from yesterday when someone spoke to him from behind.

"Looking for me Urameshi?"

Yuske jumped and spun around, "Now I know how Kiren feels. Don't do that Hiei."

"What do you want Yuske?"

"I was wondering if you've seen Kiren around. She didn't show up at school today and I wanted to talk to her about yesterday."

"And why would I know where she is?"

"I don't know! I just thought maybe you might've seen her wandering around or something."

"No, I haven't."

"You're a lot of help."

"Always am."

Yuske sighed and started walking to the other side of town. A thought hit him, "Hey, she just might be there."

He ran into the forest and made his way to the clearing. He looked around the rock and everything but he still couldn't find her.

"Damnit! She's not here either!"

Kiren jumped down from a tree onto the rock behind him, "And just who are you stalking today Yuske?"

Yuske spun around and toppled Kiren over into the water. "There you are! I've been looking for you all day!"

Kiren glared at him as they got out of the water, "Why were you looking for me?"

"I wanted to talk to you about yesterday."

She looked away from him at the water, "What about it?"

"Kurama said something to me that has me curious."

"What did he say?"

"That it wasn't you that kicked me. That was a pretty good kick though. I can still feel it. So I was just curious if you could tell me what Kurama meant by what he said."

She sighed, "Not really, though I do give the fox credit for noticing."

"Why can't you tell me about it?"

"It's one of those 'if I told you I'd have to kill you' type of things. The less you know the better off you are. So, you can tell your little toddler that my answer is no. I can't risk anything at this point."

"Why say no? Maybe we can help you out."

She smiled, "I thank you for the thought Yuske, but I'm beyond help now. I'll see ya later."

"You gonna be at school tomorrow?"

"Maybe."

"I'll see you at school tomorrow then."

She waved her hand behind her, "Yeah, yeah."

***Next morning***

Kiren walked out her front door to find Yuske sitting at her door step. "What are you doing here? And how did you know where I live?"

Yuske got up and had a big smile on his face. "I had to make sure that you were going to school today. And I kinda followed you home last night."

"You are such a stalker. Your girlfriend's gonna kill you."

"You wouldn't tell Keiko anything…Would you? She would take everything way out of proportion."

She smirked, "I don't know. Maybe I will, maybe I won't."

Yuske begged and pleaded her the whole way to school not to say anything.

When they got to the doors Kiren turned around to face Yuske, "Alright ya blubbering idiot, I'm not gonna say anything. Now get off my back will ya?"

He sighed and put a big smile on, "Thank you!"

She chuckled, "You so owe me."

Yuske smiled, "Yeah, yeah."

***During lunch on the roof***

"So, anyway, what's with making sure I came to school?"

"Well, I kinda figured if I bugged you enough, you'd join our team."

"You really think so huh?"

"It was worth a shot wasn't it?"

"Maybe. But I don't think Keiko approves."

"What do you mean?"

Kiren pointed down to a very angry Keiko. Keiko glared at Yuske and then walked back into the school with Yuske trailing behind her, trying to cover his ass.

Kiren giggled as she hopped down and walked over to the edge of the roof and stared out at the town.

"You really have a thing for scenery, don't you?"

Kiren quickly whipped around to see Hiei watching her from where she and Yuske were sitting.

"What is it with you people sneaking up and scaring the shit outta me?"

Hiei hopped down and stood next to Kiren. "I thought you of all people would know when someone's behind you."

"That all depends."

"On what?"

She chuckled, "That's a 'for me to know and you to find out' one."

"Why are you so secretive?"

Kiren shrugged, "Because I have to be."

"But why?"

Kiren's eyes glazed over a little, "It's just better that no one knows anything."

"How are you supposed to get close to anyone then?"

She smiled, "Now there's something I'd never imagine ever hearing from you, Mr. Loner that doesn't get close to anyone but the Spirit Detective and the fox."

Hiei glared at her a little. "How do you know so much about me?"

She giggled, "I have my own ways of getting information. But, to answer your question of how am I supposed to get close to anyone, I can't. Not unless I want them to die anyway."

Hiei was puzzled, "Why would they die?"

Kiren sighed, "That's confidential stuff that I can't repeat. Sorry."

He shook his head, "I don't get you. Don't you want to get close to someone?"

She gave a sad smile, "I would love to. I miss having friends, I miss being able to have a crush on someone and not have to worry about anything. But I can't now. It's just something that I have to live with."

Hiei looked down a bit, "What if someone was willing to carry the burden with you?"

Kiren looked at Hiei as if she heard wrong. But then she went back to staring over the railing. "I wouldn't let them. It's my burden to carry. I wouldn't wish this upon anyone else."

"You are one strange individual. However, Koenma is being very adamant about having you with us. So why don't we come to an agreement?"

She perked up her head, "What kind of agreement are we talking about here?"

"You join us, we don't ask you anything. Just tag along on missions."

She sighed, "That sounds nice and everything, but I don't know if I should be around people."

"You're around people in school."

She smirked, "You have me there. Let me clarify, I don't know if I should be around demons and whatnot."

"Won't know until you try right?"

"Why are you so adamant about this? You and Yuske both. I don't get it. Neither of you know me that well, but you're both trying your hardest to get me to go along with you guys and join your little team. Why?"

"Urameshi I'm not sure. He probably just sees you as a new rival. And he's always been a friendly type of guy. As for me, Mazuki is one reason. The other reason is I wanna figure you out, eventually. I said I wouldn't ask questions, but there are other ways of figuring stuff out."

"If it will get you guys to back off, fine. I'll join your little team. But I'm going to have to find a way to tell my parents that I'm not really going to be home much."

"Well, you've said you've trained at a dojo correct?"

"Yeah, why?"

"Do they know that?"

"Yeah, they're the ones that set everything up for me."

"Well, we have a similar type of thing to a dojo here in town. Just say you're going to be living and training there."

"And who's the wonderful master?"

"Genkai."

She raised an eyebrow at him, "You can't be serious?"

Hiei raised his own eyebrow, "Yes, I am. Why?"

She started laughing hysterically, "That old freakin' hag is still living?!"

"You know her then?"

"Yeah, who do you think my first teacher was?"

"Well, that'll make this easy then."

She chuckled, "Interesting is more like it."

Hiei looked at her oddly, "Why do you say that?"

Kiren looked over at Hiei, "Let's just say that she and I never really did see 'eye to eye' on anything."

"How long did you train with her last time?"

She giggled, "Ya know, I honestly can't remember. I lost track of how many years I was with that old hag."

"And you're parents were ok with that?"

Kiren gave a sad chuckle as she looked over the town, avoiding Hiei's gaze, "They'd do anything to get rid of me. They always call me trouble, a nuisance; a freak because of my eye and hair color that is nothing like theirs. Swearing up and down that I was some sort of demon that stole their real child and took her place. You name it, they've said it."

Hiei looked out over the town as well, "So, why bother staying? Or letting them know you're not going to be home for that matter?"

She gave a soft chuckle, "Stupidly hoping I guess?"

"Hoping for what?"

"To be accepted into the family. To be loved by someone. To finally fit in somewhere. But I suppose that's just a dream that'll never happen."

An awkward silence hung over the two of them. Hiei didn't know what to say or do. Kiren turned around and started walking back towards the door to go back to class; not sure exactly what else to say anymore. As Kiren walked back inside, she looked to see Hiei gone.

Alrighty, there's chapter two :) Hope you like it. I know Hiei's a little OC, but not by too much I hope. I'm trying to be a good girl this time. Anyway, I hope I get some reviews, thanks for reading. ^_^ Oh, and BTW, the reason this story is called Untitled, is because I have no idea to call it lol so, if anyone can think up a title that would fit, just lemme know! Thanks! :)


	3. Chapter 3

Kiren was sitting in a tree in her back yard, staring up through the branches. She didn't want to go inside yet. She knew the answer she'd get to training with Genkai again. She just wasn't ready to hear the joy of her going away in her mother's voice.

As if her mother knew she was thinking about her, her mother came outside and was standing underneath the tree staring up at her.

"Ya know, if you would actually come and eat every once in a while, you wouldn't be such a scrawny little thing. Dinner's ready if you want any."

Kiren looked at herself as her mother went back inside. 'I'm not that scrawny,' she thought to herself. She was about 5'1'', had a very slender form. She was small in every form possible for a girl, but she wouldn't consider herself scrawny. 'Besides, awesome things come in small packages.' She smiled at herself for a second.

She sighed and hopped down from her branch and went inside. She walked into the kitchen and sat down at the table across from her father who was taking a sip from his never ending beer can.

Her mother turned around and set the food on the table, noticing her daughter was actually sitting there.

"Well, well I see the scrawny little demon of ours has finally decided that she was good enough to join us for dinner dear."

Her father chuckled, "There must be something important going on for you to be sitting down for supper. So, what are the honors for your presence this fine evening?" came a slightly slurred reply from her father.

Kiren shook her head, "Why does there have to be a reason for me to sit down and eat dinner with my parents?"

Her mother snickered. "Well, for one, you've never once sat down for dinner except for that one time before you went to go train at that dojo thing. And number two, who knows who your real parents are. So, what's the occasion?"

Kiren had to turn her head to fight back tears. "Genkai wants me to come back to the dojo. I figured you'd wanna know."

Her mother screamed for joy as her father downed the rest of his beer and opened another and started dancing with his wife saying how happy they were that Kiren was leaving them again.

Kiren got up from her seat mumbling an "excuse me" before running upstairs to her room. She sat on her bed for a moment before grabbing a suitcase and a duffel bag to pack everything up.

She went downstairs towards the door, stopped for a moment to look at her parents, shook her head and walked out the door. Without skipping a beat, she went straight to Genkai's place.

She sprinted up to the doors and stared at them for about a minute before taking a deep breath and went inside. She looked around her as the doors closed. 'This place hasn't changed a bit,' she thought.

She followed noise coming from a tv to find Genkai in front it sipping her tea.

"What do you want ya brat?"

Kiren smiled, "A place to stay if you don't mind ya old hag."

Genkai turned around to face Kiren with a smirk on her face, "Good to see you. Take it your parents kicked you out again?"

Kiren sat down on the floor, "Kind of. Koenma found me. Well, more like his dogs found me and now I'm part of their little team. I needed to get out of the house anyway."

Genkai was sitting in front of her sipping her tea. "Great, so now Koenma's stealing my best student. That little pacifier brat doesn't know when to quit does he?"

Kiren smiled, "Come on now, you can't really mean your best student, can you?"

Genkai smirked, "You're a hell of a lot better then the dimwit that Koenma sent me."

Kiren laughed, "Thank you for the compliment. My old room still there?"

"Yup, haven't touched it. Left it just the way you did."

"Thanks 'ma'. I'm gonna go put my stuff away and then go wondering outside."

"Be careful. And don't be gone too long. Don't think I'm gonna let you stay here for free."

She sighed, "Yeah yeah, I kinda figured."

Kiren walked up to her room. It really was just the way she left it; pretty much empty except for a dresser and a bed. She even left it the color she painted it; midnight blue with all her glow in the dark stars that she had on the ceiling.

She put her stuff away and went outside. She wasn't quite sure where she wanted to go, so she just started wondering off in a random direction.

After walking for a while, she found herself by a river. She sat on the edge, took her shoes and socks off and let her feet hang in the water. Thunder cracked above her. She looked up to see a dark sky and rain began to fall.

A small figure stood in a tree near by looking at her tiny form. He stared for a while before jumping down beside her.

"To what do I owe the honor?"

He gave his trademark 'hn'. "I have a message from Koenma. He wants us to meet up at Genkai's place.

She gave a small chuckle, "Ah, the irony. Just move back in with the old bat and now we're having a meeting there."

Hiei sat down next to her. "How did that go by the way? Getting out of the house I mean?"

She sighed, "It went as I imagined it would."

She turned away from him, grabbing her socks and shoes as she stood up, "We should get going."

Hiei looked at her for a moment before she was gone. He blinked and looked around him but she wasn't anywhere. He headed over to Genkai's to see Kiren sitting outside.

She looked up at him and smiled, "Slow poke."

He glared at her, "How did you do that?"

She shook a finger at him, "That's a secret."

She went inside with Hiei right behind her. Everyone else was already inside sitting around Koenma.

Yuske grinned at them, "Took ya long enough. What were you two doing out there alone in the forest?"

He started to say another remark before he was on the floor; Kiren standing above him very irritated.

"I really don't understand how in the world Keiko puts up with you." She looked up at everyone else, "Hello everyone."

Koenma took the lead, "Alright, now that we have everyone here, let's get down to business." He pulled out a file and laid it open on the floor.

"We've gotten some disturbing information about a band of demons that are running around Demon World. It seems that they're working for someone that we've never heard of before but apparently they're someone to be reckoned with and they're starting to threaten the human world. We've gotten a general idea of where they could be located. You guys are to go to Demon World and stop this at once. Any questions?"

Kuwabara and Yuske were groaning, Kurama was thinking, and Hiei just stood there with a blank expression. Kiren was looking at the file, memorizing everything in it, for what little was there.

She put the file down and looked at Koenma, "Alright, let's go."

Yuske looked at her oddly, "How come you're so calm about this? The last time we mentioned demons and what not you called us crazy."

She smirked at him, "Oh trust me Yuske, I know a lot more than you could ever imagine. I was lying before. I was trying to avoid getting into something like this but I suppose it can't be helped."

Yuske stared at her open mouthed as Koenma spoke up, "I have a portal here that'll take you to where you need to go."

The portal opened up and everyone started going through. Hiei and Kiren were about to go through as Genkai grabbed Kiren's arm.

"What's up grandma?"

Genkai glared at her, "Make sure to come back alive with everyone else. I have some things for you to do when you get back."

Kiren sighed, "Don't worry, I'll be back sooner than you think."

The team arrived in what very well seemed to be like a desert. It certainly felt like a desert too. Kiren was very pleased that she was wearing her black tank top and black capri pants.

Yuske groaned, "Great, not only are we doing a stupid mission, but it's in the middle of a freakin' desert." He mumbled to himself as he started walking forward.

Kiren caught his arm to stop him, "Hold it Yuske. You prolly don't wanna walk any farther just quite yet."

"Why not? It's just sand."

Kurama came up on the other side of Yuske, "No, she's quite right Yuske. It's not quite what it seems to be."

Yuske looked between the two of them, "What in the world are the two of you talking about?"

Kiren sighed, "No wonder Genkai calls me the better student. There's a barrier here idiot. A very nasty one at that."

As Yuske started yelling at Kiren, Kuwabara walked up next to her looking like he was deep in thought.

Kiren looked at Yuske and Kurama, "What's up with Kuwabara?"

"He has an ability to cut through barriers," responded Kurama.

"Pretty handy there. So, Kuwabara, do you think you can handle this one?

He gave a shrug, "If I can, it's only gonna be a small entrance for about a split second. This is one really weird barrier."

Kiren looked at funny "What do you mean it's a weird barrier?"

"It's powered by demon energy. So basically, the only way to get rid of it is to destroy the demon that it belongs to."

Yuske shrugged his shoulders, "Piece of cake. We'll have to cut it more than once to get everyone in and then beat this guy up."

Kuwabara shook his head, "That ain't gonna work."

Yuske glared at him, "Why not?

Hiei spoke up, "Because, detective, once we cut it, it's going to alert the demon that has it out that there are intruders. You honestly think that he's gonna let us do it more than once?"

Yuske thought about it for a moment, "Yeah, I guess you're right. Ok then, so, what's the call? Who's gonna go through? If it can only be open for a split second, I guess only one of us can go through."

Kurama thought about it for a minute, "Well, the logical thought would be Hiei, since he is the fastest one out of all of us."

Yuske sighed, "Yeah, but I really don't like only one of us going."

"Two of us can get through actually," came a disgruntled comment.

Kurama looked over at Hiei with a raised eyebrow, "Who are you talking about Hiei? I know for a fact that Yuske, Kuwabara and I can't match your speed."

Hiei avoided eye contact. He didn't want to admit, but he had to. "Kiren."

Everyone looked over at her. She was lost in thought about who should go through until she felt eyes on her so she looked up.

"Why is everyone staring at me?"

Kurama smiled, "Hiei says you can match his speed. Is that true?"

She smirked, "Match it? Oh I think I can do much more than that. So, I take it that means that we're sending Hiei and me through?"

Kurama nodded, "That's the theory for now. Are you going to be ok?"

She laughed, "Come on Kurama, you're sounding like you're talking to a human or something."

Everyone gave her a weird look. "You are a human aren't you Kiren?" asked Yuske.

Kiren scratched her head a little, "Yeah, of course I am. What else would I be? I was just trying to be funny." She gave a small chuckle as she looked around at everyone. "So, are we just gonna stand here like idiots or actually go through with this?"

Kurama nodded, "If you guys destroy the demon with the barrier, the rest of us should be able to come and join you."

After some discussion it was time for Hiei and Kiren to go through.

"Now don't do anything with each other while you're alone. We would like to join the fun so don't take forever," teased Yuske.

Hiei hit him this time, rendering him unconscious.

Kiren looked over at Kuwabara, "Alright, let's do this."

Kuwabara nodded and summoned his barrier slashing spirit sword.

Kiren smiled, "Pretty nice there." She looked over at Hiei, "Ready?"

Hiei merely nodded and Kuwabara slashed through the barrier. As soon as his sword made a tiny tear, Hiei and Kiren disappeared within a split second. Once they were gone, so was the hole in the barrier.

Kurama looked at where the entrance had been, "I hope everything goes alright with the two of them."

Yuske had woken up to hear Kurama's comment, "Why wouldn't they be?"

"You know as well as I do that Hiei isn't exactly a team player. Aside from that, we know nothing about Kiren's fighting ability. All that we know of her is that she's as fast as Hiei. We don't even know if she can fight, and that will make Hiei leery and he won't trust Kiren with anything, meaning he'll try to do everything by himself."

Yuske sat up, "You do have a point there. But I'm sure everything will work out."

"I sure hope so."

***Kiren and Hiei***

As soon as they entered through the barrier, their way back sealed up shut.

Kiren looked back at it, "Well, I guess there's no turning back now."

Hiei narrowed his eyes at her, "What do you mean by that? Don't tell me you're some useless human like that numbskull spirit sword user."

Kiren looked over at the small fire demon with a slight glare. "Come on now Hiei, don't you dare lump me in with Kuwabara and the Spirit Detective. You'll see that I'm of much more use then the two of them put together."

Hiei crossed his arms, "And why exactly should I believe that? None of even know what you can do aside from being as fast as me. Nothing really to go on."

Kiren got right up in Hiei's face; her sterling silver staring into his deep crimson. "I would've thought that you of all people would know that when an opponent doesn't know your abilities, you have an advantage. Don't worry; I'm not some weakling that needs protection."

Hiei turned his head, "Hn. We'll see about that."

Kiren scowled at him and started looking around the area. She got closer to the barrier and examined it very closely, trying to see if she could find something that linked it to its owner.

Hiei watched her for a minute before asking, "What in the world are you doing?"

"Trying to see if there was something that would lead us to the demon."

She scanned it for a moment longer until she found what she was looking for; a tiny little strand that ran on the ground.

"Found it. Let's go."

Without even waiting for a response from the annoyed demon, she turned and started following her little red string.

'The fox is right, there is definitely more to this girl than meets the eye. I'm going to have to keep a close watch on this one,' thought Hiei as he followed Kiren.

And there's chapter 3! Sorry that took a few days but work's been crazy. I have to update a chapter on my other story but I will try to get chapter 4 up ASAP :) I hope you guys like this chapter! Read, Enjoy and maybe if at all possible please review? They're always a great inspiration :)


	4. Chapter 4

It seemed to go on forever. They just kept walking and walking and walking with no end in sight.. Hiei was getting very irritated and even more bored. Kiren was off in her own little world; eyes glued to the little red string of demon energy that they were following.

Hiei noticed Kiren slowing down until she stopped completely. Hiei glared at Kiren, "Don't tell me you're tired already?"

Kiren returned his glare, "Hell no. I just figured you might want a warning."

He raised his eyebrow, "Warning of what exactly?"

Kiren sighed, "I'm shocked you haven't noticed them yet."

Hiei crossed his arms getting impatient, "Noticed what human?"

She narrowed her eyes at him, "I'll let that one pass for now. Anyway, since you haven't notice yet, I shall enlighten you. There are multiple traps from here going onward so you might wanna follow close behind me."

He looked away from her, "I think I'll be quite fine on my own. I don't need help from anyone."

She put her hand to her temple and started rubbing where a headache was forming.

"Fine, have it your way then. If you get caught in something, don't come crying to me." She took a step forward and then she was gone.

Hiei glared in the direction she went and followed, trying to catch up to her. In his hurry to catch up with Kiren, he stepped on a patch of sand that made a clicking sound. Once he let his foot up off of it, he heard booms of in the distance getting closer to him.

He cursed and increased his speed to the max that he could go; avoiding the traps that he could see. He set a few more off in the process but he just kept going. He finally got to where he could see Kiren in the distance.

Kiren heard the explosions coming from behind her and turned to see what the commotion was. She saw Hiei running towards her with fire and booming coming from behind him. She crossed her arms and waited for Hiei to reach her.

Just before Hiei reached her, he missed a hole in the ground and fell in. As he fell in, bars went over the top of the hole, locking Hiei in. Kiren walked over and looked down to see Hiei trying everything to get out of the hole.

She smiled, "You having issues there shorty?"

"What do you think?" he shouted at her. "What kind of a trap is this anyway?"

Kiren kneeled down, "A tricky one that doesn't allow it's prey to use any type of energy to get out. The only way out is for someone on the outside to deactivate it. I just might know how to do that." She gave a wry smile.

He narrowed his eyes, "So why aren't you doing anything?"

She made it look like she was thinking hard about her answer. Then she gave an evil smirk at him, "Gee, I believe there was someone who said that he didn't anyone's help. Now, where could I have heard that one from?"

He turned his head away from her, not saying a word.

"Awwww, is someone giving me the cold shoulder? Well, I guess you don't need my help then. I'll just go take care of that demon by myself. Maybe by then you'll be out of here on your own."

She started walking away; she went at a slow pace waiting to her Hiei protest her leaving and to demand that she let him out.

She made it about ten steps before she had a telepath in her head, 'You leave me down here, I will kill you when I get out of here.'

She turned around and went back to his little prison. "I thought you couldn't kill 'humans'. You really wanna risk incarceration just to kill lil' old me?"

He sighed, "You have a point there, just help me get out of here."

She stared at him for about a minute. Hiei was getting very irritated, "What are you doing girl? Get me out now!"

She sat down cross-legged, "That's no way to ask for help. Guess you really don't need it huh?"

He glared at her, "What do you want me to say?!"

"A please might be nice. Then I could tell everyone that you actually asked for help and even said please. Yuske will get a kick out of it for sure." She started giggling to herself.

"You. Wouldn't. Dare."

She smirked, "Try me. Maybe if you say it nice enough, I won't tell anyone about it."

Hiei cursed for a little bit under his breath. He couldn't believe he was stooping this low. "Fine, could you _please_help me out of here?"

She got a bright smile on her face, "Now that's more like it."

She moved to kneeling on her knees to dispel the trap that was on it. Hiei was tapping his foot, getting very impatient. But just before she undid the trap, she did a front flip to the other side of hole barely missing a big axe aiming for her neck.

She looked at her attacker. He looked like an extremely oversized wolf that seriously needed to be groomed and given a bib for all the drool coming out of his mouth.

Kiren shivered at the sight, "Well, I guess we don't have to go looking for you now."

The demon hung his axe on his shoulder, "Who dare trespasses into the territory of Hiko the wolf?"

Kiren stood up and wiped off the sand from herself, "Someone who wants to break a barrier."

Hiei started walking in a circle, "Kiren! What do you think you're doing? Let me out of here and I'll deal with him!"

She sighed, "Sorry but I kinda need to concentrate to undo that trap and Hiko here ain't gonna let me do that. So you'll just to be patient and trust me to handle this."

Hiko laughed, "You think a mere human can take care of me?"

Kiren gave Hiko an evil smirk, "Don't think I'm just some mere human you rotten filth. You are no match for me."

Hiko growled and charged at Kiren, swinging his axe back and forth in front of him. Kiren looked like she was just standing there but Hiko wasn't landing a hit. Each time he missed, he got more and more frustrated.

Kiren started getting bored and pulled a little piece of metal from pocket. Hiei had been watching and now looked at her curiously, "What in the world is small piece of metal going to do?"

Kiren bent down, completely ignoring Hiko, "Just watch and learn small fry."

Hiei growled as Kiren closed her eyes, focusing her spirit energy on the metal. In almost a second, a steel sword was in the metal's place. She sliced it in the air in an X shape. Hiko laughed at her, like she was striking air. His laugh was cut short as he split apart and blood gushed everywhere.

Kiren swung the sword down to wipe the blood off of it. She then knelt back down to Hiei, focusing a little energy into her hands. She placed them on opposite sides of the hole, making the top of it glow with a bright light.

The light was so bright that Hiei had to look away and cover his eyes. When he could see again, the bars were gone, "What did you do?"

She smiled, "That's a secret." She winked at him and started walking back the way that they had come before. Hiei jumps from his hole and was walking side by side with Kiren.

"Aren't you worried about the traps?"

She raised an eyebrow at him, "There aren't any traps anymore. For once, you blew up most of them, and the rest disappeared when Hiko died. Now, what do you really want to ask me?"

He looked the other way, stuffing his hands in his pockets, "How did you do that sword thing?"

Kiren's turn to look away, "Family secret that can't be told to anyone."

Hiei rolled eyes, "Is that all you can do?"

She gave a big smile, "That's barely a little of what I can do."

"What else can you do?"

She started running ahead of him, "I'm not telling!"

He shook his head and ran after her.

***The rest of the gang***

Kurama was leaning up against a tree, watching the other two snore away. He smiled, "Those two never where ones to wait were they?"

He himself had contemplated taking a quick nap, but he was too worried about Hiei and Kiren. He hated not knowing what was going on. Just as he was readjusting himself, he noticed that the barrier disappeared.

He quickly woke up Yuske and Kuwabara, "Hey you two, the barrier is down. Come on, let's go."

They lazily got up, rubbing the sleep out of their eyes. When they finally got into a standing position, Kurama was already running ahead of them.

The two scrambled after him yelling at him to wait up for them. Kurama didn't want to wait. He had to find Hiei and Kiren. He had to know if anything had gone wrong. He honed in on Hiei and Kiren's scents and booked it in that direction.

After a while of running, Kurama seen blown up traps and his worry was growing worse. That was until he almost toppled over Kiren who had stopped when she had seen Kurama running their way.

"Hey there Kurama! Where's the two bakas?"

He smiled, "They're on their way. I went ahead of them to see how you two were doing."

She smiled, "We're perfectly fine, see?"

She did a little circle dance to show everything was completely fine. Kurama sighed a sigh of relief. "So, how'd it go?"

Hiei scoffed and walked passed Kurama, "Obviously it went well; you guys got to come this way didn't you?"

Kurama looked after him for a moment and then turned to Kiren with a raised eyebrow, "Do I dare ask what happened?"

She shrugged her shoulders, "It was a quick, easy win. Nothing else to it."

She walked the direction that Hiei walked off to, Kurama watching her tiny retreating figure. As the two were walking away, Yuske and Kuwabara had finally caught up.

Yuske looked at the other two then directed his attention to Kurama, "What's up with those two?"

He shrugged his shoulders, "Who knows, let's just continue with them. I'm sure there's a hideout somewhere out here. I've notice multiple demon energies around here now that the barrier is down."

Kuwabara nodded his head, "Yeah, and there's a couple that I don't like the feel of."

Yuske patted him on the back, "Aww come on Kuwabara, it's not we haven't handled some pretty difficult situations before. Let's go kick some ass!"

Yuske drug Kuwabara towards Hiei and Kiren with Kurama covering up the rear. Yuske caught up to the two shorties and put his arm around Kiren's shoulder.

"So, Kiren, what did you two do while you were alone?"

Kiren glared at him, grabbed is hand and flipped him in front of her onto his stomach with his arm pinned behind his back.

Her voice got real low and demonic, "You EVER mention anything like that ever again and you can say goodbye to a few limbs of yours. I'm not some play girl that jumps on any guy the first time that I meet them. And I don't think I'm exactly Hiei's type. Or anyone is his type for that matter. So, save the jokes for you stupid friend and the girly red head, got it?"

She got a muffled nod in response. She let go and continued walking. The other three stood in awe at Kiren as Yuske got up and rubbed his shoulder.

He shook his head, "Remind me to never get on her bad side."

Kurama laughed, "Yes that does seem to be the smart thing to do would it?"

Everyone nodded but Hiei; he was still watching Kiren. 'Well, that seems to be an intriguing side to her.' He thought to himself.

She stopped once she had gotten a ways away, 'I hate Yuske. Yes, Hiei is very good looking, but I'm pretty sure he won't be getting interested in any girl ever.'

She turned around and crossed her arms, waiting for the others to catch up. Once they had, they continued onward. Yuske kept scratching his head, getting very uncomfortable with the silence.

"So, how much longer do you think we're gonna have to go til we start seeing something?"

Kiren stopped, making everyone else stop. "I would say we're getting a welcome party at the moment."

In front of them was a large band of ugly demons in every shape and size possible.

Yuske cracked his knuckles and got a big grin on his face, "Looks like I can finally get some action in."

Everyone but Kiren drew their weapons and ran forward, destroying the demons that they encountered.

Kiren took out a zippo lighter, opening and closing it while watching the fights going on. She watched each of their fighting styles, memorizing what their abilities were.

One of the demons strayed from the group and was heading straight for Kiren. She flipped the lighter open and lit it. She waited til it got close to her and then she blew at the flame. A humungous fire ball emitted from the lighter and engulfed the demon, burning him to a crisp.

As the others approached her, being done with their parts, there was nothing left but ashes. Yuske looked back and forth between the pile of ashes and Kiren.

He opened his mouth to say something but Kiren cut him off, "Don't ask, I ain't telling. Let's get going, the hideout isn't too far off from here."

She started walking as Kurama studied her back. "She definitely is an odd one. We had better stay on our toes while we're around her."

Yuske nodded, "Yeah, she got some bite to her. I just wish she wasn't so secretive."

Kurama sighed, "That seems to come with the territory. We'll just have to deal with it and hope that maybe someday we'll get the whole story."

Hiei started walking ahead, "Don't count on it. I don't think she's much of the opening up type. Let's just continue and see what she's made of."

Kurama smiled, "Yes, let's see what she's made of."

They continued walking for what seemed like hours before they came upon a creepy looking castle.

Yuske hung his head, "Why does it always have to be a creepy castle like thing for all these demons to hang out in?"

Kiren looked over at him, "What does it matter where they are? We just need to get in there, do our business, and get the hell outta here."

Kurama raised an eyebrow, "Why so in a hurry to leave?"

She fidgeted for a moment, "There's something here that's really giving me the creeps. My entire body is telling me not to go in here. So let's go now before I back out and don't go in."

Kurama looked at her for a moment, "Alright, let's go in and say hello."

Everyone nodded and went inside. Unbeknownst to them, there was someone watching them from somewhere in the castle.

He smiled, "Well well well, seems like we have a lost stray in our castle. Hanko, get everything ready."

Hanko nodded, "Yes m'lord Shoske, I shall make sure that everything is in place for our guests." Hanko exited the room, leaving his lord to watch the team alone.

Shoske gave an evil laugh, "Yes, this should provide with some lovely entertainment. It's been so dead around here lately, I need something to lighten the mood around here."

I am so sorry that this took me a bit to get out, work has been extremely busy and I haven't had time to write anything. Made me so mad lol I need a new job lol Anyway, I hope that this chapter is ok. We got to see a little bit of what Kiren can do, but I'm saving the rest for later :) Anyway hope you guys liked the chapter and I can't wait to see if I get any reviews!


	5. Chapter 5

I am sooooooooooo sorry at how late this is. I had hard time trying to write this one. I had my beginning and I had my ending but couldn't figure out how I wanted to do my middle of it. When I finally figured out what to do for the middle I was stuck at trying to write it. But I finally got it done! I even pulled an all night for it! :) I hope that everyone enjoys! It's even longer than my other chapters :D I hope it's not too horrible! Please read, enjoy, and I hope for some reviews! :)

Kiren got a shiver down her spine as they walked in. The team looked around as the door shut behind them. It looked like your typical castle; stone walls, rusty gates and chains, dripping water.

Kiren rolled her eyes, "Always has to be traditional doesn't he?"

Kurama looked at her oddly, "What do you mean?"

She continued without hearing Kurama; pacing as she spoke, "He never changes, never. One would think that he'd get more creative over the years."

She had her hand on her temples as Kurama tapped her shoulder.

"Um, Kiren, what are you talking about?"

She looked around at the team, "Oh no, do not tell me I was actually speaking out loud?"

They all nodded. She started pacing again, "Well, this is awkward. Um, is there any way possible that we could forget that I said anything?"

She got cold stares from around the room. She sighed, "Alrighty then, um, I may know who's at the head of this, I may not. Can we just get going before we get bombarded at the door?"

Hiei stood in front of her, "No, if you have information about his place and what's going on, we need to know."

She sighed, "I kinda have information and I kinda don't."

Kurama stood in front of her beside Hiei, "Kiren, this is not the time for secrets. We need to know what we're going up against."

She glared, "What happened to not asking questions?"

"Those were pertaining to you. This has nothing to do with you, does it?"

She turned away from them, "And what if it does? You gonna force it out of me?"

Yuske walked up next to her resting a hand on her shoulder, "We don't wanna force anything out of you, it'd just be nice to know what's going on and if we even stand a chance."

She sighed and turned around, "I don't really wanna talk about it but I suppose I must. You might have a chance. The person we're looking for is not your average demon. He likes to play games. He likes to make obstacles and see if someone can get over them. He doesn't like to get his hands dirty, but if he must, he will."

Kurama got his thinking look, "So what kind of demon is he?"

"He's a normal kind of demon, has the power of fire. He's just very powerful. He likes to put traps up for anyone trying to get to him and he gets pleasure out of torturing people."

Yuske gave a nervous chuckle, "Well, he sounds like just the kind of guy that I wanna hang out with."

Kurama turned towards Kiren, "Yes, he does. And just how do you know him exactly?"

She looked away, trembling a little, "Let's just say we go way back. Anyway, I told you what you wanted to know so let's getting moving shall we? I vote for the stairs, just be careful."

Yuske stepped in front of her, blocking the stairs, "Why are you so scared?"

She glared at him, "I'm not scared."

Hiei came up behind her smirking, "You're shaking like a scared little girl."

She turned towards him glaring even harder, "I am not. I'm just really excited. Ya know, things are finally getting good and everything."

"Hn, we shall see. Don't slow us down scardy-cat."

She calmed herself and said coldly, "I should be saying that about you slow poke. Anyway, stairs, let's go."

Hiei glared daggers at her back as she started walking up the stairs. Kurama came up behind him smiling, "She getting under your skin, Hiei?"

He turned his attention towards Kurama, "Hn, as if. Let's get going."

Kurama giggled to himself as they all followed Kiren up the stairs.

The stairs wound around and around like a ballroom stair case. Yuske hung his head a little, "Doesn't this resemble a similar castle from before?"

Kurama smiled at him, "I believe so. The castle for the Saint Beasts was quite similar."

"Let's just hope that there aren't any similar monsters around. I don't wanna get electrocuted again."

Kiren looked back at him, "I'm sure there aren't any monsters around here that use electricity. Shoske doesn't really like any other elemental property demons working for him."

Yuske brought his head up and looked at Kiren's back, "Shoske?"

She looked forward again, "That would be the main demon's name here, Shoske. He's an odd one but he's not to be taken lightly. Who knows what he's got up his sleeve."

After what seemed like forever, they finally reached the end of the stairs and into a room with many doors. Ironically there were exactly five doors; the number of team members.

Kiren closed her eyes and let out a slow sigh. Kurama looked at her, "What's wrong?"

She slowly opened her eyes and stared straight ahead, "This is one of his most favorites."

Kurama raised an eyebrow, "What is it?"

"Only one person can go through one door. If you notice, there are five doors. There are five of us. I don't know how he does it, but only one person can go through each door. After someone walks through a door, it'll disappear."

Kuwabara looked at all the doors, "What's behind these doors?"

She looked over at him, "Whatever he wishes. The abilities of the demons that he has working for him vary. This lovely little piece of work would be Hanko's."

Hiei crossed his arms, "And just how do you know so much about all of this? You're not in league with them or something are you? Leading us into a trap?"

She turned towards him with her hands on her hips, "Excuse me? You're the ones that wanted information outta me, and now that I give it to you, you accuse me of being an accomplice and leading you guys into a trap? Let's see if I ever give you guys info ever again. And don't forget who saved you in the desert earlier."

Yuske smiled over at Hiei, "What's this? Hiei getting saved? May I inquire-"

"No you may not. Nothing happened," snapped Hiei.

Kurama snickered then turned to Kiren, "What Hiei was trying to say is that it is kind of eerie that you know all of this about our mission. Would you mind telling us how you know about it?"

She fidgeted a little, "I don't really want to, it wasn't exactly the best experience. And my memory is a little hazy about what happened."

Yuske's face softened, "You don't have to tell us if you don't want to.

She looked at Yuske and then at the others and took a deep breath.

"I've been caught in this before. One of my friends had been captured by Shoske. A group of us did some research on him, found out what his abilities were and what kind of operations he did. Who he associated with, who he had do his dirty work for him and what their abilities were. We even located his hideout here. We thought we could handle it so we came here to rescue her. Needless to say it didn't end well. I don't even know how I escaped."

"What happened to your group?"

Her eyes glazed over a little, "I never saw any of them ever again. After some of us made it to the top, I vaguely remember a fight and then everything went black. I woke up a few days later at Genkai's."

She half smiled, "She scolded me for weeks for being so reckless and made me clean the dojo from head to toe."

No one knew what to say. Hiei looked away from her; Kurama and Kuwabara gave her sympathetic looks. Yuske gave her a big hug, "Its ok, this time things will be different. You have us and we're no push overs."

He gave his big goofy grin and she couldn't help but smile. She shook her head and then got a cold look in her eyes, "Anyway, that's how I know about Shoske and what he does. I'm not sure what he's gonna have in store for us but it's normally not pretty. Just be careful of trap switches; he loves those."

Everyone nodded. Kiren gave the final nod, "Alright people, choose your door."

Kiren took the middle door, Kuwabara took the far left, Kurama the far right and Yuske and Hiei were next to her.

Yuske smirked, "I'll go first; I'm in need of some action."

He opened the door, "Here's goes nothing." As he stepped through, the opening where the door had been disappeared.

Kurama smiled, "See everyone at the top."

He went through his door and Kuwabara followed suit. Only Hiei and Kiren were left. Hiei watched Kiren as she looked up and down the door, trembling a little.

He put his hands in his pocket and looked away from her, "Scardy Cat chickening out on us already?"

She looked at him about ready to glare when she seen he had a half smile on his face and he was looking at her out of the corner of his eye.

She smirked back at him, "Me? Chicken out here? Never. Someone has to save your ass in the end."

Hiei gave a full smile as he went through his door. She stared at where he had been standing for a moment and then closed her eyes and took deep breaths.

"I can do this. I'm not the little girl I was back then."

She shakily stretched her hand towards the door handle. "Come on Kiren, stop being a little sissy. Everyone's counting on you."

She steadied herself, opened the door and walked in. The door shut behind her and the frame disappeared leaving a stone wall.

"Well, there's definitely no turning back now."

She looked ahead of her. It looked like a simple hallway but she knew better. When she had done research on him, she found out about all the traps that he loved to put in places and always made them impossible to see or find.

She looked at the floor in front of her; concentrating to see if any of the tiles were different colors. As she was looking, all the tiles started flashing different colors; making it impossible to see if there was a switch on the floor.

"Well, there goes that idea."

She shook her head, "I hope everyone else is doing ok."

***Yuske***

Yuske quickly looked behind him as he heard the door shut and seen nothing but nothing but a stone wall.

"Kiren wasn't kidding when she said only one could go through."

He looked ahead of him down the hall. It seemed like a normal hallway but then he remembered what Kiren had about Shoske's love for traps.

He looked a bit more carefully at his surroundings but he couldn't see anything. He shrugged his shoulders, "Maybe I lucked out and got the route that doesn't have anything."

He smiled as he started walking forward. He made it a few steps before he heard a click in the floor. He froze as he looked around. Nothing was coming out or being flown at him.

He sighed in relief and continued forward. As he was walking, he heard an explosion behind him. He stopped and looked behind him to see mines going off behind him.

He got big eyed and started running forward. He looked ahead just in time to see swords coming out of the walls from every direction.

He paused for a brief second and looked back and forth between behind him and in front of him. He powered up in his palm and thrust his fist in front of him yelling, "Shot gun!"

The swords were blown apart and Yuske dashed forward; the explosions closing in on him. He pushed himself as fast as he could when he came to the end of the hallway to find another door. He quickly went through it and found himself at the bottom of a set of stairs with a nasty looking demon at the top.

The demon looked like a cross between a spider and a scorpion.

The demon smirked down at him, "That's quite a nifty little power that you have. I'll have to keep on my toes."

Yuske glared at him, "I suppose this is the old 'if you want to move forward you have to beat me' kind of thing."

The demon chuckled, "You guessed it. Just don't take me lightly. I've been doing this for Shoske for many, many years and not once has anyone ever gotten past me."

Yuske smirked, "Shoske's little guard dog huh? Does he feed you scraps too and tell you that you're a good boy?"

The demon glared at Yuske, "How dare you speak to me like that! You will see that I'm not someone to be taken lightly!"

Yuske cracked his knuckles, "And you will see that I'm not some little push over."

The demon disappeared and Yuske looked around frantically for him. He saw him out of the corner of his eye and faced him with his shot gun ready to go only to find that he wasn't there anymore. This continued for several minutes making Yuske more and more frustrated.

The demon chuckled, "Can't find me? How sad for you. No one has ever been able to match my speeds."

Yuske giggled, "Obviously you haven't met Hiei or Kiren. Now their speeds are ones that I can barely keep up with. But you, you're nothing compared to them."

"What do you mean?"

Yuske smiled, "Just liked this." He powered up his spirit gun and quickly turned to his side and shot it; blowing up everything of the demon except his head.

"H-h-how did you do that?"

Yuske blew at the tip of his finger, "Easy, you're like a snail."

Yuske walked past the demon and up the stairs to find himself at another door.

"Well, let's see where this goes." He walked through, not sure what was next.

***Kurama***

Kurama looked at his surroundings. He noticed very small holes in the walls indicating some sort of sharp object came out through them. He looked at the floor to see if he could notice anything and he couldn't.

"Hmmm, either the stories that Kiren found of him are false or he's just really good at hiding things."

He brought out a rose from the back of his hair and turned it into his trademark rose whip. He started to very carefully walk forward.

He kept walking until he heard a click somewhere and then he could see pendulums with very sharp blades swing back and forth.

He looked around until he noticed short little ledges. He used his whip to wrap around it and then swung above the blades until he got to another door.

"That wasn't terribly difficult."

He walked through the door to find what looked to be a chimera between a tiger and a bat.

"It's a pleasure to meet you. It's so nice to see that that pretty face of yours wasn't marked up by those annoying blades. I keep telling Shoske that he needs to come up with something better than that but I guess he likes sticking with the traditional stuff."

Kurama gave the chimera cold stare.

"Now that look just doesn't suit those beautiful emerald eyes of yours."

"Enough about me. How about we just get this over with so I can get out of here and help my friends."

"Oooo, feisty aren't we? I suppose-"

Kurama was on the other side of the chimera with his rose whip wrapped around him at his feet. As he stood up the chimera fell apart into pieces.

"I do not have time to be wasted on a weakling such as you."

He located the door on the other side of the room and went through it, hoping everyone else was ok.

***Kuwabara***

Kuwabara was having a freak out session after the door disappeared.

"Urameshi?! Kurama?! Guys?! Anybody?! This place is scary!"

He closed his eyes trying to stay calm. Once he had calmed down he started walking forward. He got just a little ways when the room started shking he heard a rumbling from somewhere.

He looked behind him to see a big boulder coming right at him. He screamed and ran as fast as he could; dodging spears and swords and whatever else was there.

He saw a door up ahead and immediately went through it. As it shut he felt the boulder ram into it. He jumped, expecting it to come through the door. But when he looked behind him, all he saw was a stone wall.

He scratched his head, "Hmm, that's weird."

"As weird as the two of us meeting in a place like this?"

Kuwabara quickly turned to see a tall, very beautiful woman standing in front of him.

"Hi there pretty lady! Are you trapped here? Kuwabara is the man to save the day!"

She giggled, "You are just too funny. No, I'm not trapped here. I'm here helping out my dear old friend Shoske."

He looked at her puzzled, "But why would a pretty lady like you want to help out Shoske? He's a terrible demon."

She gave an evil laugh, "And just what do you think I am? Some helpless little human? I may look human but I am far from it. I despise humans. Filthy, disgusting things."

She smirked at Kuwabara, "Now, I suppose you want to get out of here to help you annoying little friends. Alright, let's get this tiresome fight over with."

"Is there some other way of getting out of here? It's against my honor code to fight girls."

"Such a gentleman aren't you? I'm afraid to say that there's no other way to get out of here. Either you beat me and continue, or you let me kill you and eat your flesh."

He backed up as far as he could, "No! I can't! I can't fight girls!"

She licked her lips, "Well, looks like I get an easy meal then!"

Very long sharp claws emerged from her finger tips as she jumped and slashed at him. He barely dodged and sprinted to the other side of the room. As he turned around, she was already almost on top of him.

He put his hands out in front of him and his spirit sword emerged, blocking her attack. She jumped back a little.

"Well, that's interesting. This should be fun."

She launched at him again. He parried he attacks with his sword, "I told ya lady, I don't fight girls!"

"All the more fun for me!" After a few more rounds she finally knocked him down. Just as she was about to land on him, Kuwabara closed his eyes and thrust his sword up right through her heart.

She coughed up a little blood and gave a small giggle, "Guess I don't get my free meal."

Kuwabara's sword disappeared and she fell on the ground. He closed his eyes and went straight for the door that had appeared. He opened it and went through.

***Hiei***

Hiei looked around waiting for something to happen. Nothing did so he took his time to look around. He shrugged his shoulders and sped his way to the other end; blocking everything that came at him.

He made it to the door, "Hn, that was easy."

As he grabbed the knob to turn it, he heard something like falling. He looked up just in time to see a boulder coming straight at him.

"Well, this isn't familiar at all."

He grabbed his sword and sliced it into pieces. He sheathed his sword and went through the door.

He was greeted by a beastly tree looking creature.

"Looks like I have a visitor," came a deep gruff voice.

"Hn, not for long."

Hiei unsheathed his katana and sped for the demon, slicing him into tiny little pieces.

He sheathed his katana, "Pitiful."

He turned around only to be picked up and thrown by a branch. He stood and looked at where the demon had fallen to see it piecing itself back together.

It chuckled, "I don't die so easily."

"We shall see."

He engulfed his hand in flames and shot it at the demon, rendering him to ashes.

"There, try getting back up from that."

Hiei turned away from him and went to the door that appeared. He opened it and went through.

***Finally back to Kiren! :)***

Kiren had her hands on her temples, "These flashing of colors are driving me nuts. I've had enough of this.'

She closed her eyes and she was on the other side walking through the door.

"Kiren, it's been such a long time since we last saw each other."

She looked up and was surprised by who she saw.

"Hanko."

He smiled, "I'm so glad that you remember me. How long has it been anyway?"

She looked at him coldly, "Not long enough."

He chuckled, "No need to be so harsh my dear child. Shoske has missed you."

She mockingly laughed, "Oh yeah, I'm really sure that it's me that he misses."

He walked closer towards her, "Of course it's you. Now come, Shoske has a surprise for you."

Within a blink of an eye Hanko was behind Kiren binding her hands.

"We don't need you having the use of your hands at the moment. Come, Shoske is most impatient."

Hanko drug Kiren towards the door on the other side of the room. They went through and climbed the stairs. After going through many twisty turvy corridors, they finally reached a large set of double doors.

Hanko knocked and the doors opened, revealing a very large room with Shoske at the very back. Hanko shoved Kiren through the doorway, closer to Shoske.

Kiren cringed as she got closer to Shoske. He laughed, "Why such a reaction my dear, haven't you missed me?"

She tried backing away from him only to be stopped by Hanko.

Shoske laughed, "Now that's no way to react to someone who has something that you want."

She sneered, "What could I ever possibly want from you?"

Shoske walked over to a curtain on a side of the room, "Well, let's just say you might want what I have acquired during your stay."

Her eyes got big, "No no no no no, you can't."

He smirked, "Oh, but I can."

He pulled back the curtain to reveal the rest of her team in chains on a wall; all glaring at Shoske.

Shoske smiled and turned back to Kiren, "This seems all too familiar doesn't it? Except last time it was just one, right?"

"Let them go. If it's me that you're after, fine. Just leave them out of it. They don't deserve this."

Shoske put his hand to his lips in a thinking gesture, "Hanko, is this almost the exact same dialog from last time?"

Hanko smiled, "Yes m'lord, I do believe it is. Although last time I believe she added, 'Let my sister go or I'll kill you'. Sound about right?"

The gang looked over at Kiren who had tears starting to form in her eyes.

Shoske walked over to Kiren smiling, "I did like that addition. Now, what shall I do to these ones? Shall I do to them what I did to your beloved Riku?"

"Don't you dare say her name. Riku was a thousand times better than you."

He laughed, "And yet she died at my hands. What exactly does that say to you?"

Kiren grabbed at a button on her back pocket, channeling her spirit energy to it while she watched Shoske walk over to his table of 'tools'. When he wasn't looking, Kiren changed her button into a tiny knife and cut at her bindings. Once she was free she turned around and kicked Hanko out the door.

Shoske immediately turned around, "What the hell do you think you're doing you little bitch!"

She turned back towards Shoske, "What I wish I could have done the last time that I was here."

Wind blew in from the window and Kiren used it to her advantage. She used her spirit energy with the wind and encircled Shoske with it, levitating him into the air.

Kiren glared at him, "You can stay there for a moment."

Amidst Shoske's cursings at her, Kiren ran over to the gang. She took out her lighter and lit it, using energy to melt the chains. Once everyone was freed, she turned her attention back to Shoske. She grabbed the chains that she had melted and put them back together binding Shoske completely.

She looked at the gang completely emotionless, "You can take him to the baby now. Trust me, he ain't getting out of those."

They looked back and forth between her and Shoske. Kurama finally nodded, "Um, Yuske, would you mind contacting Botan?"

Yuske nodded and pulled out his communicator and went to talk to Botan. Kurama was trying to think of something to say to Kiren, but nothing came to mind.

After a few minutes, Yuske came back, "Botan said Koenma should have the portal here shortly to take us all back home."

Everyone nodded and sat in silence awaiting Koenma's arrival.

It seemed like forever before Koenma finally arrived. The portal was opened and everyone went through and they were back at Genkai's place. She looked up as they all entered through, looking for Kiren.

When she finally saw Kiren, she got a grim look on her face when she saw Kiren's expression. Koenma was talking to the group but Kiren wasn't listening. One second she was there, and then she was gone.

Yuske was the first to notice that Kiren was missing.

"Hey, anyone know where Kiren went?"

Koenma stopped talking and everyone looked around. Kurama noticed that Hiei was missing as well.

'Hopefully he can get through to her for us,' he thought to himself.

He turned his attention back to Koenma, "I'm sure she's fine. Anyway, let's get this demon back to Spirit World."

Koenma nodded and he and Kurama left, leaving Yuske and Kuwabara with Genkai.

Genkai sipped her tea; she knew she'd be back sooner or later. She looked at the two boys, "Don't you two have somewhere to be? Like a sister and a girlfriend?"

They nodded and left as well.

Hiei found Kiren by the river that they had been at previously. She was sitting on the edge again with her feet in the water. Her tiny body was hunched over, her hands covering her face.

He slowly came up beside her and sat down. They sat in silence for a while, Hiei giving her space to talk if she wanted. She just sat there, silently crying. After what seemed like hours she finally brought her hands away from her face; wiping away the rest of her tears.

Without looking at her, Hiei spoke softly, "So what really happened the last time that you encountered Shoske?"

"What do you mean? I told you what happened," came her very shaky.

He slightly turned towards her, "Well, with what Shoske said, it seems that there's more to this story than you originally let on."

She half smiled, "Bright one aren't you?"

He went back to looking at the flowing water, "At times. I promise I won't say anything to anyone. I just would like to know what really happened."

She wiped her nose on her sleeve and sniffled. She closed her eyes, fighting off more tears.

"There was no group. It was just me. Riku had heard about some disturbances in that desert and decided to go check it out. She told me she was just gonna look around and see if she could gather some information. She told me to wait there for her."

A couple of tears fell as she tried to speak, "I argued with her vehemently about going by herself. I told her it would be smarter if we went together. She just blew me off and left, saying that it would be easier to hide if it was just one of us. And since I didn't have really any control on my powers, I let her go."

She took a few breaths, "I gave her a week before I started to get worried. I knew she was a tough girl and could handle herself. But once that week had gone by, I started to get restless. I went to her room and searched it completely trying to figure out where she had gone."

She opened her eyes and stared at the water, "I finally found a book that she had been writing in about the whole thing. Where the hideout was and everything there was to know about Shoske. She even wrote in there how to make a portal to get there. So, I made one and went through."

She finally looked over at Hiei, "I made my way to his castle and I made it up to Shoske's room somehow. When I got there, I saw Riku chained to the wall and she was covered in blood. She had cuts and bruises everywhere. I panicked. I was filled with rage at Shoske that I blindly went after him, not even thinking. I didn't last very long. The last thing that I remember was looking at Riku, wishing I could help her. And then I woke up in my bedroom at Genkai's. I guess she found out what had happened and came and got me."

Her voice started getting quite, "I screamed at her, asking where Riku was; wondering why she wasn't there with us. Genkai told me that there was nothing she could have done for my sister. I asked her what the hell was she talking about since she was a healer. She said that by the time that she had gotten there, Riku was already gone and she can't heal the dead. I packed my things and stormed out; never once going back there."

They sat in silence for a while after she finished speaking. Hiei never was really the consoling type so he wasn't really sure what to say. Kiren finally broke the silence.

"I can't stand it. The last conversation I had with her I was arguing with her. Now I'll never be able to tell her how much I love her and wish she was here right now."

She leaned over and laid her head on Hiei's shoulder. He let her lay there til she fell asleep and then he took her back to Genkai's.

As he was laying her down on her bed, Genkai showed up at the door.

"I take it you know about Riku now."

He nodded.

"There was really nothing I could do when I found them. Riku was long gone and Kiren was almost gone too. She was unconscious for a couple of weeks before she finally came around. After she left and went back home, I heard rumors going about that her parents blamed her for her sister's disappearance. Saying that she was the one that killed her. Poor kid. I'm shocked she stayed there as long as she did. She probably thought of it as punishment for not being able to save her sister."

Hiei looked over at Genkai, "I think only you would know that. You seem to be the only one that actually knows her."

She shook her head, "No, I only know the girl that she lets other people see. There's a side of her that I don't know about. Something that she's always hiding from everything. She even hid it from Riku."

Hiei looked back at Kiren, "Yes, there does seem to be something much more to her. It's almost like she's a different person at times."

Genkai smiled, "That's how she keeps to herself. She doesn't want anyone to know the real her."

He merely nodded and headed for the door to leave. Genkai put a hand on his shoulder, "Would you mind staying nearby for a few days? I'm afraid she'll do something stupid again."

Hiei nodded and left. Genkai took one last look at Kiren before she shut the door, leaving her to sleep in peace.

And there is lovely chapter 5! :) Sorry for the wait but I hope that it's a good read and that you all enjoy it! Thanks and I hope for some reviews! :)


	6. Chapter 6

_Sorry that this is kinda late. I needed a little break from the last chapter XD I hope that you like this chapter though. Nothing big going on yet, kind of a relaxer chapter. I really hope to get some reviews! :)_

It was a very silent afternoon over at Genkai's. The boys had gotten a new mission and they were supposed to bring Kiren along. No one had even seen Kiren since they got back from the last mission, except for Hiei.

Yuske groaned, "I don't know how to even approach that we have another mission to go on. After what happened with that last one, I'm sure she ain't gonna wanna go on another one. Hiei, can't you like read her mind or something and figure out how to talk her?"

Hiei crossed his arms and looked away, ignoring Yuske's question.

Yuske glared at him a little, "Hello?! Come on Hiei, I know you heard me."

Kurama chuckled a little, gaining a weird look from Yuske.

"Why are you laughing?"

Kurama cleared his throat, "Hiei is avoiding your question because he doesn't want to admit the answer."

Yuske raised his eyebrow, "And what answer would that be?"

Kurama smiled, "He can't get into Kiren's head."

Yuske smirked in Hiei's direction, "There's actually a mind that shortstuff here can't get into?" He started busting out laughing.

Hiei glared at him, "You don't have to rub it in."

Yuske calmed down a little, "How is that even possible anyway? I mean, aren't you like one of the greatest telepaths out there? Especially with the Jagan?"

Hiei fidgeted a little, "I'm not sure how it's possible but it is."

"She's got a wall that no one's allowed into," said Genkai from the doorway.

Yuske and Kuwabara jumped at her sudden appearance.

She took a sip of her tea, "You're just going to have to figure out your own way of talking to her that works."

Yuske hung his head, "Can't you talk to her old hag?"

She glared at him and then took another sip of her tea, "I could, but it wouldn't do anything. She doesn't like to listen to me. You don't even want to know how I get her to clean this place."

Genkai let the silence go for a moment. She looked at everybody's thinking faces. She gave them about ten minutes before she gave her two cents, "Why don't you just send Hiei to talk to her?"

She got weird looks from everyone but Hiei who looked away again.

"Why do you suggest Hiei?" asked Kurama.

She shrugged her shoulders, "He seems to be the one that she's closest to at the moment."

Yuske got his goofy grin, "How do you come to that conclusion?"

Kurama looked at Hiei with a small smile, "She talks to you doesn't she? About stuff that she won't discuss with the rest of us."

Hiei glared at the fox, "I got one story out of her. Nothing else. It wasn't even related to Mazuki."

Kurama got a twinkle in his eye, "But she still told it to you. I bet if we asked, she'd just glare, mumble something and walk away."

Hiei rolled his eyes, "Look, I just happened to be there at the right time. I bet if I asked her something now, even related to what she told me, she wouldn't spill a word."

Yuske put his arm around Hiei, "Come on Hiei, it's still the fact that she told you. So, I say you go work your magic and get Kiren over here."

Hiei quickly got out of Yuske's hold and was at the door to leave, "You just don't want to get slammed to the ground if you say something wrong. Pathetic.

Hiei left with Yuske cursing at him. He went to the usual spot that she was at by the river but to his surprise, she wasn't there. He looked up and down the river but still couldn't find her.

He started searching with his Jagan. _'I may not be able to read her mind, but atleast I can still locate her at times,' _he thought to himself. It took a few minutes but he finally found her. She was in the middle of a clearing not too far from where he was at.

When he got there he stood in a tree, watching her. Partially trying to figure out how to approach her, and partially interested in what she was doing. One would normally think that she was just sitting there meditating. But he could barely see a tiny little flame in the palm of her hand for a moment before it disappeared.

When it disappeared she cursed, "Dammit! Why can't I get this to work?"

She closed her eyes and concentrated again. She focused on all her energy on her hand, visualizing a fire ball in it. When her hand started getting a little warm, she smiled. She kept thinking of it being bigger and bigger. But it just disappeared like the last one.

Hiei jumped down behind her as she started rubbing her temples. He sat down next to her.

"What exactly are you trying to do?"

She jumped up and spun around, ready to attack. Hiei was shocked at what he was looking at. Her usual sterling silver eyes had no trace of silver in them. They were instead a vibrant navy blue.

When she noticed it was Hiei she relaxed a little. She closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and then sat back down. When she opened her eyes they were back to silver, making Hiei think that he might've seen wrong.

"To answer your question, I was trying to use the elements without actually having to have something physical to start it."

She took out her lighter and opened it, "Like this for example."

She lit the lighter and put it towards her other hand. Just before it reached the skin, a ball of fire formed in her hand. She went back and forth between making it bigger and smaller showing that she could control the size.

She put it out and looked back at Hiei, "But for some odd reason I just can't get it to work without using something to start it. I mean, I can get it to work a little bit, but not enough to actually be useful in a battle. I really want to make this work cuz I'm not always going to have access to my little things that I use."

He nodded, still trying to figure out a way to talk to her. She laid down on the grass, covering her face with her arm to block out the sun. They sat like for a while when she suddenly sat back up.

She had a smile on her face and a weird twinkle in her eyes, "Hey, you're a fire demon right?"

He raised his eyebrow, "Yes, why?"

She scooted a little bit closer to him, "Do you think you could train me? I'm pretty sure once I got a hang of one of the elements, it would be a little easier for the other ones."

Hiei thought about it for a moment. He wasn't quite sure how to train someone dealing with an element. '_But it may lead me to finding out something about Mazuki,' _he thought to himself.

"I suppose we could give it a try."

She gave a big smile, "Thanks! Ok, now tell me why you're really here. I know you wouldn't be here unless you had to be."

He blinked a couple of times before answering, "How'd you know?"

She sighed, she didn't really want to admit it since she liked having him around. She also didn't want to admit that the only reason she asked for him to train her was so that she could actually hang around and talk to him. She knew nothing would ever come from it, but she liked how calm she felt around him. All her worries seemed to fly out the window.

She looked away, "Any other time you were 'hanging' around you never left your tree. And I know that the only reason you were doing it in the first place was cuz the old hag asked you to. So, for you to actually be sitting here talking to me, probably means that there's another mission and they sent you to talk to me."

He looked at her for a moment, trying to figure out her expression. _'What is she thinking about?' _he thought to himself. He stood up and looked down on her, "Yes, there is another mission. Everyone's waiting at Genkai's."

She stood up and started walking, "Alright, let's go."

"Just like that?"

She stopped and half turned to him, "You honestly think that just because of what happened on the last mission was going to stop me from accompanying on other missions?"

He caught up to her and walked beside her, "You're very perceptive, you know that?"

She shrugged, "Just something that I've always been good at I suppose."

"So does that mean that you are a telepath then?"

She shook her head, "No, I can't read minds. I just get a usually pretty good hunch about what they're thinking."

He gave a smirk, "Alright, what am I thinking about then?"

She looked over at him, "You really want me to answer that?"

He raised his eyebrow, "Can't do it can you?"

She sighed, "You're wondering what I'm thinking about and why you can't read my thoughts like you can with everyone else. You're still wondering how I know about Mazuki. I know that's the only reason you agreed to train me because you think that something will slip out about her. Otherwise, you would want nothing to do with me, does that about sum it up?"

She shook her head and leapt up to a tree and she was gone; leaving Hiei standing there confused, "What was that about?"

He raced back to Genkai's. As he walked in, he noticed Koenma had just arrived.

Koenma smiled, "Perfect timing Hiei. Let's get down to business."

Hiei surveyed the room to find Kiren standing in a corner, attention on Koenma. _'How does she do that?" _he thought to himself as he moved his attention over to Koenma.

Koenma cleared his throat, "Alrighty then, this next mission is a very important. We have found word of an artifact that should not be in any demons hands."

Yuske raised his eyebrow, "What kind of artifact are you having us go get?"

Koenma's eyes got real serious, "An artifact that I've only heard about from my father because it's been thought that it had been destroyed. But apparently there've been some recent events that have confirmed that it's still out there. It is a ring that has the ability to raise the dead."

Hiei saw Kiren's head perk up at the 'raise the dead' part. _'Hope she doesn't get any stupid ideas," _He thought.

Koenma continued, "We have a general idea of where it's at."

"It's not another desert is it?" interjected Yuske.

"No, it's not another desert. It's actually out in a forest somewhere. Which is where I'll be transporting you here shortly."

A portal showed up where Koenma was standing. Everyone was going through but just before Kiren stepped through, Koenma stopped her.

She glanced over at him, "What do you want?"

He held her gaze, "Don't get any stupid thoughts. Just get the ring and come back."

She glared at him, "Just how stupid do you think I am?"

She shook her head and went through the portal.

When she walked through, everyone else was waiting for her. They were in what seemed to be a clearing in a forest. It was really hard to see though since it was night time.

Yuske stretched, "How about we just make camp for tonight and start looking tomorrow?"

Everyone nodded and dispersed around the clearing. Kuwabara and Yuske went go gather sticks to start a small fire; Hiei took his spot in a tree with Kurama leaning against it underneath him.

Kiren heard running water not too far and walked towards it. She found herself upon a small connected to a small lake. She sat down at the edge of the bank and put her feet in the water, instantly feeling at peace.

She put her hands out in front of her and concentrated her energy into the palm of her hand. A tiny ball of flame formed. She tried making it bigger, but as soon as she put a little more energy into it, it burnt out.

She sighed in annoyance and decided to do something else. She rolled her pants up and walked a little bit into the lake. When she got a good distance she stopped and put her hands in the water.

She focused her energy on the water and raised her hands slowly out of the water. As her hands came up, water followed. She circled around a few times, making circles of water around her.

After a while of doing that, she decided to make a flower design. When she was finished, she pushed for a little more energy and froze her design. She got out of the water and stood on the bank, admiring her work.

Hiei had switched trees and had been watching her the whole time. He was going to go down and talk to her and try to figure out what she had meant earlier before they went to Genkai's when he noticed Kurama walking towards her. He stayed where he was, intending to listen to the conversation.

"Exquisite work you've done there."

She jumped and quickly spun around, "Don't scare me like that."

He smiled softly, "Sorry, but you seemed like something was bothering you earlier and I came to see if you wanted someone to talk about it with."

She looked back at her ice sculpture for a moment before she let it fall back into water as she sat down at the bank.

"What made you think something was bothering me?"

He sat down next to her. "The expression you had on your face when you got back to Genkai's. You seemed upset about something."

She gave a little chuckle, "That obvious huh?"

He nodded, "A little bit. Care to have a chat about it? You know, it can sometimes help if you let people know what's bothering you."

She smiled softly, "You're sweet Kurama, thank you. I'm just not normally the talkative type."

"I've noticed. Did Hiei do or say something that upset you? Or is it dealing with the last mission that we had?"

She brought her knees up to her chest, "I've come to terms with the last mission a long time ago."

He turned more towards her, "Then something related to Hiei?"

She smiled, "Perceptive aren't you? Yes, but not in the way that you think. Kind of anyway. I snapped at him when I shouldn't have."

He tilted his head, "What happened?"

She sighed, "I was training on trying to use my elements without having to have something to start it; like my lighter for fire for instance. Hiei showed up and started talking to me. During the conversation I asked him to train me, he said sure. Then I asked him why he was there actually talking to me."

He raised his eyebrow at her.

She continued, "I knew the only reason he would talk to me out of the blue would be if there was a mission and you guys had sent him to come and get me. He'd been checking up on me after the last mission, but I knew it was only cuz Genkai asked him to."

She leaned back on her hands, "He said I was perceptive and asked if I was a telepath. Of course I said no, I'm not, I just get really good hunched about what people are thinking. He asked me to guess what he was thinking about and I kinda snapped at him."

Kurama got a small smile, "What'd you say?"

She looked up at the sky, "I said that I knew it was bugging him that he couldn't read my mind, and I know it still bugs him that I know about Mazuki and won't tell him about it. And then I said that I knew that that was the only reason he had agreed to train me was because of her, otherwise he would want nothing to do with me. Then I ran off and left him behind. I shouldn't have snapped at him, it just hurt a little knowing that the only reason he even speaks to me is cuz of Mazuki or because you guys are too scared to talk to me and send him in."

He gave her a sympathetic look, "I'm sure that Mazuki isn't the only reason that he speaks to you. Hiei's just a little hard to understand. He's not used to showing emotions. He's used to keeping himself bottled up and emotionless and not really trusting anyone. At the moment, the only people around here that he trusts are me and Yuske."

She sighed, "I know, it's just…."

"Just what?"

She stood up, "It's nothing, forget about it."

She started walking away. Kurama stood up as well, "You like him don't you?"

She froze mid-step and turned back towards Kurama, "What? No, of course not. That's absurd. Who could ever like a cold, distant, heartless fire demon like him?"

Kurama smiled, "By the sounds of it, you."

She put her head down a little, making her hair cover her eyes, "You've got it all wrong. I just feel calm and at peace when I'm around him. And I look up to him being strong than me. That's all, nothing else."

She walked away back to the camp, leaving Kurama with a small smile on his face. Hiei watched her walk back with wide eyes. _'I wonder what that was about. The fox is stupid. And she's stupid if what he said is true. Nothing will ever happen. I don't need anyone,' _he thought to himself. He shook his head and laid back in the tree, waiting for the morning so they could set out.

Kiren looked up at the tree that Hiei was sleeping in. _'Kurama's wrong. I don't like him. I can't like him. It's not allowed. Just forget what he said. Just focus on the mission," _she thought to herself as she found a tree to lean against and fall asleep til morning.

Kurama walked back to the camp to see everyone sleeping. He looked back and forth between Kiren and Hiei with a smile on his face. _"They would make a cute couple if either of the two could let each other in," _he thought. He went back to his spot underneath the tree that Hiei was on and closed his eyes, wondering what morning will bring.


	7. Chapter 7

_Nothing motivates writing a YYH fic then re-watching the show while writing :) lol I love owning all 4 box sets ^_^ Another good motivator is the reviews from my beloved Skyla15699 and Kinaofheartz. I love you guys :) You're guys' reviews make me feel awesome and wanna update! So here's chapter 7! Hope you all enjoy and I hope for some reviews! :)_

When Kiren woke up, it was still pitch black outside. She sighed, _'So much for getting a good night sleep,' _she thought to herself.

She stood up and stretched. Yuske and Kuwabara were snoring away. She looked over at the other two and they seemed to be fast asleep as well; but one could never tell with demons.

Feeling antsy, she climbed the tree that she was under. She went all the way to the top and looked around at their surroundings. Typical forest, filled with lots and lots of trees; but what caught her interest was a tower she saw in the distance.

She stole a look back down at the boys for a moment before looking back in the direction of the tower.

"Well, since I can't sleep I might as well make use of myself and go check it out."

She slowly hopped from treetop to treetop, making sure to keep a lookout of any demons that may be lurking. She made it to the very edge of the trees that surrounded the tower. She hadn't seen any demons on the way, but when she saw the bottom of the mansion that the tower was connected to, she saw quite the number of them.

Thankfully, none of them had noticed her presence. _'Talk about security; this ring must really be something to have this many demons lurking about. If there's this many outside, I don't even wanna know how many are inside,' _she thought to herself.

She took everything in as well as she could; trying to memorize everything to tell the guys. When she was done, she started going back to where the boys were.

Yuske was the first to stir when the sun came up. He sat up and yawned while looking around; the others were waking up as well. As he was looking around, he realized that Kiren was missing.

Kurama noticed Yuske's frantic looking around, "What's the matter Yuske?"

He looked over at Kurama, "I don't see Kiren anywhere."

Kurama took his own look around and affirmed what Yuske had said, "That's odd. She was asleep by that tree over there just before I fell asleep."

Everyone came together in the middle of the clearing that they were in looking around. A rustling in the tree behind them could be heard. Everyone got ready for a fight, but relaxed when they saw that it was Kiren.

She straightened up from jumping out of the tree, "Morning everyone."

Yuske glared at her, "Where were you? I was starting to think you got kidnapped or something."

She rolled her eyes, "Come on Yuske, what kind of girl do you take me for? I couldn't sleep so I decided to scout the area to see if I could find anything."

Hiei smirked, "I guess you're useful for something."

She glared at him, "Jack ass."

Kurama smiled, "Did you find anything?"

She smiled over at Kurama, "Yeah, actually I did. There's a mansion just a little ways away from here. Heavily guarded though. There's atleast 500 demons guarding the entrance. Whoever this guy is that has this ring, he doesn't take any chances."

Yuske got his big grin and put his arm around Kiren's shoulders, "That don't scare me. We've got the best team around that can kick some ass."

Kiren swatted his arm away, "Don't touch me."

He looked at her funny, "What's wrong with you?"

She ignored him and started walking towards where the mansion was located, "Let's go and get this over with. I wanna go home."

Yuske watched her for a moment before turning to the others, "What stick got up her ass this early in the morning."

Hiei started following Kiren, "Hn, why don't you ask the fox?"

Yuske looked over at Kurama who also started following Kiren, "Kurama, what happened?"

He turned his head back towards Yuske, "Nothing of importance. Now come, or we'll leave you behind."

Kuwabara scratched his head, "I don't get it. I thought she was getting friendly with Hiei. Now it seems something's going on with Kurama. She's an odd one."

Yuske patted his back, "I don't think she's the kind of girl that gets 'interested in guys'. Kurama probably just said something that annoyed her. She seems to get annoyed easily. Anyway, let's catch up or they really will leave us behind."

Kuwabara nodded and they ran to catch up with the other three.

It took them about two hours before they got close enough to start noticing demon energies. Kiren went over to the nearest tree and climbed up to the top again.

Yuske ran to the tree she climbed, "Hey Kiren, what are you doing?"

She glowered at him, "Shhhh you idiot, they'll hear you. I'm just taking a look to see what's where."

Yuske looked back at the others, "Did she really just call me an idiot?"

Kurama chuckled, "Yes, that appears to be true. But she does have a point Yuske. We are close enough for demons with good hearing to hear you."

Yuske stuck his hands in his pockets and stuck his tongue out at Kiren. Hiei joined her in the tree, "What do you see?"

She didn't even look at him. She just kept looking out towards the mansion for a moment longer and then jumped back down to the others.

She looked at the others, "They're not as bunched up as they were last night. They're more spread apart. Should be easy for us to take care of."

Hiei glared at her as he jumped back down as well. Kurama nodded at her response, "Yes, we should each take a section and make our way to the door. Hiei and Kiren, you take the back since you'll get there faster than we will. Kuwabara, you take the right side. I'll take the left and Yuske, I'll leave the middle to you."

Kiren glared at Kurama but nodded with the rest of them. _'Stupid damn fox. I know what you're trying to do and it ain't gonna work,' _she thought.

They got to the very edge of the trees. Kurama nodded over at Kiren and Hiei. They nodded in return and disappeared. Kurama, Yuske, and Kuwabara launched themselves at their respective sides.

It took only a second for Kiren and Hiei to make it to the back of the mansion. They stood on a landing to one of the many windows near the top of the building. There weren't as many demons back here but it didn't take long for the two to attack them.

Hiei unsheathed his katana and started slicing away. Kiren took out her tiny piece of metal and turned it into her own sword and followed suit. It didn't take them very long to get rid of all the demons.

As soon as they were done there, without even having to speak, they each took a side of the mansion and went to help the others. They killed demons on their way to the front, and when they got there, the other three were waiting for them at the front door.

Yuske laughed, "Talk about weak security. If this is as strong as they're gonna get, I don't think we'll have anything to worry about."

Kiren glanced over at him, "Don't underestimate them. This ring sounds like something I'm sure other strong demons would want. There's probably tougher demons on the inside."

Yuske glared at her, "Ok, seriously, what bug crawled up your ass?"

She narrowed her eyes at him, "None, I'm just cautioning you. This is not something to take lightly."

Kurama nodded in agreement, "She has a point Yuske. We have to be prepared for anything that's in there."

He sighed, "Yeah, yeah, so let's go inside and introduce ourselves."

With that, the team went inside. The inside looked normal enough. Typical mansion of everything looking expensive and empty; except for all the demons that turned to look at who entered the door.

They all growled at the team and started charging after them. Yuske brought his arm back a little, charging up his energy. Just as the demons made it close to them, he thrusted his arm forward, "Shot gun!"

As he was doing that, Kiren took out her lighter and threw a fire ball at the rest; burning them to a crisp.

A laugh could be heard at the top of the stairs, "I see we have some interesting intruders. This should be fun."

The gang looked up to see what looked to be a normal human. He looked young and quite handsom. He had stunning blue eyes and dirty dishwater blonde hair that just barely reached his eyes.

"And just who are you exactly?" asked Kiren.

The man chuckled, "Kiren, I really am hurt that you don't remember me. Though I do have to admit, it was quite some time ago since we last saw one another."

Kiren got a confused look on her face, "I don't ever remember seeing you before."

He chuckled again, "No, I suppose not. After all, the last time that we were together you were so young. But I can still remember your sweet screams and callings for help. That dirty old hag ruined all my fun when she found you."

She thought about it for a moment as the boys turned to look at her. She went back year by year trying to place the man in front of her. However, there was a part of her memory that she couldn't access. Her eyebrows furrowed together as she tried to remember.

The man started walking down the stairs, "I'm sure you've blocked it out by now. Especially considering how young you were. I think you were barely 11 or 12 years old."

By now he was standing right in front of Kiren. The boys tried getting in between them, but they couldn't move.

"What the hell is going on? Why can't I move?" yelled Yuske.

The man laughed, "Just a little trick of mine. I can make anything immobile with just a tiny thought. Of course it has its limits but it is quite useful."

He placed his hand on Kiren's chin and lifted her face up closer to his, "You're even more beautiful than I remember. You really have grown up my sweet fire bird."

Kiren's eyes got wide. The name 'fire bird' triggered something; and she wished that it hadn't. Her brain was flooded with memories of the man that stood in front of her.

Tears started running down her face, "Raido."

Hiei started growling in Raido's direction. The flood of memories that came to Kiren were so powerful that they expanded to his mind. He saw everything that Raido had done to Kiren.

"You sick pig, " growled Hiei.

Raido looked over at Hiei, "Ah, I forgot that you are an amazing telepath. Though I am shocked that you got into her head. Even my best telepath couldn't reach her. She has these amazing walls of defense that just can't be breached. It must have been such an amount of memory that you got to get a glimpse of it."

_'Hiei, what is he talking about?' _Kurama asked telepathically.

_'He's done terrible things to her. Every sort of torture imaginable, he's done,' _Hiei replied.

_'Why?'_

_'From what I saw, my guess is information.'_

_'What information could he want out of a child?'_

There was a pause in Hiei's response.

_'Hiei?'_

_'Mazuki.'_

Raido's blue eyes looked directly into Kiren's silver ones, "You always were very beautiful."

He lowered his face onto Kiren's, giving her a quick kiss on the lips that earned growls from the others.

He smirked and was going to make a comment but he was cut off by being kicked backwards into the staircase. The others stumbled a little as they were released from Raido's hold.

The boys joined next to Kiren. Yuske looked over at Kiren to see if she was ok but was surprised by what he saw. Her normal silver that he was used to looking at was replaced by a very stunning dark blue.

Yuske looked back at the others, "Kiren's eyes are silver right?"

Kurama raised his eyebrow, "Yes...why the random question Yuske?"

Yuske pointed over at Kiren, "They're blue right now."

Raido stood up and looked at Kiren, "Now there's what I like to see. I've missed those eyes."

Kiren smirked, "You always were a sweet talker weren't you? Let's get down to business shall we?"

Kiren held her hand out and it was incased in fire. Kurama looked over at Hiei.

_'I thought she couldn't use the elements without using something to start it.'_

_'She can't. There's something very wrong here.'_

Raido laughed, "Not yet my sweet princess. I'll meet you at the top of my tower."

Raido disappeared up the stairs and was gone. The fire from Kiren's hand disappeared as she kneeled to the ground with her hand on her head.

Yuske knelt down beside her, "You ok Kiren?"

She looked around the room and then up at Yuske, "What just happened? Where's Raido?"

He raised his eyebrow at her, "Did you hit your head or something? You knocked him away from you and when your hand engulfed in flames, he ran away saying he'd meet you at the top of the tower."

She blinked a couple of times, "Are you sure you didn't hit YOUR head Yuske? I can't start fires without my lighter. And I don't remember doing anything to Raido."

Yuske looked over at Kurama, "Um, any explanation for this?"

"I have a slight idea, but I can't be sure. Let's just follow Raido."

He nodded and starting walking towards the stairs. Hiei watched Kiren who hadn't gotten up yet. She shakily stood up and started walking forward.

Hiei walked next to her, "You don't have to come with us. You're more than welcome to stay here."

She glared at him, "I'm not some weakling than needs to get left behind. I was scared at first but that won't happen a second time. Besides, it's not like you actually care anyway."

She walked faster to catch up with the others. _'I don't get her,' _he thought to himself. He watched her retreating form as her memories came back to his mind. His anger that he felt before came back. _'I'm shocked she's still alive. Raido will pay.'_

They went up the stairs and through the door at the top. The door led to a big room with two separate sets of stairs on either side of the room leading up to who knows where.

"I swear, people always feel the need to separate us," commented Yuske.

"Yes, it seems so," replied Kurama.

Kiren stepped forward, "Alright, who's going on which side?"

Yuske walked over to the left side, "I'll go this way."

Kuwabara walked over by Yuske implying that he was going with him.

Kiren nodded and went over the right side.

_'Hiei, why don't you go with Kiren and keep an eye on her. I'll go with Yuske and Kuwabara and keep an eye on them.'_

_'Great, babysitting again.'_

Kurama smiled. _'Come now Hiei. Would you rather go with Kiren or stay with Yuske and Kuwabara and get annoyed by the two of them?'_

Hiei nodded in agreement and they went to their respective sides. Everyone nodded at each other and went up the stairs that they were on.

The stairs seemed to go on for forever. Kiren sighed, "Ya know, I really hate stairs."

"Hn."

It seemed like hours before they finally reached the top. Raido was waiting for them in the next room.

He smiled, "Keep coming, we're not quite at the top yet."

He disappeared in a flash. In his place was a spider's web that covered the entire length of the room.

Hiei smirked, "He's taking us way too lightly."

Kiren already had her sword at the ready. The demon climbed down its web, "Not at all. I should be more than enough for you. You can call me Widow"

Kiren chuckled, "Such a creative name. Hiei, let's get this over with."

He nodded as Widow launched a mouth full of web at the two. They easily dodged, Kiren bringing out her lighter.

Widow laughed, "I don't think so. Raido has told me all about you."

Widow shot at Kiren's hand and covered her lighter. Kiren tried slashing at the thread with her sword to get her hand free, but it ended up getting tangled. Hiei charged at Widow, sword at the ready.

"Don't think I've forgotten about you," she said as she spat a wide web at Hiei.

He tried slashing at it but he got the same result as Kiren; a tangled sword. The web hit him and shoved him at the open window; just barely keeping him in the room.

Kiren got wide eyed, "Hiei!"

Widow laughed, "This is pathetic. A world class demon and a Spiritually strong human and you can't even make a move on me."

Kiren was getting frustrated. She had to figure out something or this wasn't going to end well.

_'Dammit! I wish I could just cause flames to happen. Yuske said that I did it before. I wonder how I did that,' _she thought to herself.

She let go of her sword and focused her energy on her free hand. _'Come on, work for me.' _

Her little ball formed in her hand. She fed it a little more energy, pleading to work for her. She felt it getting bigger and smiled as she brought it towards the web that had her tangled.

Widow howled at her as she ran over to Hiei. Widow beat her to him though and shoved Hiei out the window; causing the web that had him stuck there to wrap around him like a cocoon.

"Shit, Hiei!"

Kiren kicked Widow out of the way and jumped out the window after Hiei. She made herself narrower so that she could pick up speed to catch up to him. She reached him and grabbed him while forming her sword in her other hand and stabbing it into the wall to stop their fall.

They slid for a moment until they finally made it to a stop. She didn't waste any time, she stood on her sword and jumped back up through the window. As she entered, she kicked Widow to the other side of the room, biding her a little time to help Hiei.

She quickly brought out her lighter and lit it, burning away the web around Hiei. After he was free, she turned towards Widow.

"We don't have time for you."

She grabbed a small piece of leather out of her pocket.

Hiei raised his eyebrow, "And just what are you going to do with that?"

To answer his question she used her energy to turn it into a thorny leather whip.

He shook his head and turned his attention back to Widow. Kiren lashed out at her as Hiei ran forward, grabbing his sword to slash her as well.

Between the two, Widow fell to pieces. Kiren's whip dispersed and she quickly ran to the stairs. They hurriedly made it to the top. As they walked through the next door they were met by the rest of the team.

Yuske smiled, "Hey you two."

Kiren's attention was elsewhere. The boys followed her gaze and saw in the middle of the room the ring that they were sent to acquire. Behind the ring was Raido.

He stepped forward into the light. He had a smile on his face directed at Kiren.

"Hello my sweetness. I'm so glad you could join me."

She glared at him.

He chuckled, "Now that look just doesn't suit that pretty face of yours. I gather you're here for this ring that I have. It really is a magnificent ring. It can do wonders. Shoske was ever so kind giving it to me."

Her glare got more demonic looking, "You just love hearing the sound of your own voice don't you?"

He smirked at her, "Well, if you don't want to hear mine, how about someone else's? I'm sure it's been a very long time since you've heard it. I've been monkeying around with this ring for years and I've come to like it."

She kept her glare, "What are you talking about?"

He looked behind himself, "You shall see for yourself. Come here my little pet."

Kiren's eyes widened as far as they could go when Raido's 'pet' came forth. It was a girl about Kiren's height with long brown hair. Her body looked just like Kiren's; small in every department. Yuske gasped when the girl opened her eyes. They were identical to Kiren's.

The team looked over at Kiren with wide eyes. Kiren fell to the ground with tears in her eyes. She couldn't believe who stood before her.

"Riku."


	8. Chapter 8

_Apparently watching YYH has really put me in a writing mood lol and I know how I feel about cliffhangers when I read them so I didn't wanna leave you guys hanging. I hope you guys like the chapter! And I'm hoping for some reviews! Thanks everyone! :)_

Kiren's voice got really shaky, "I-i-i-it's n-n-not possible. Riku...you...you died..."

Raido smiled, "She did, I can assure you of that. See, when Shoske gave me this beautiful ring, he also gave me Riku's body to experiment on. Of course I didn't do use her right away. I wanted to save her for when I had perfected the use of this ring. I had hopes of meeting you again my sweet. I never did get to finish what I started all those years ago thanks to that old hag."

Yuske growled, "You stupid piece of trash! You're lucky I can't move asshole! I'd totally beat your face off right now!"

Raido chuckled, "Quite a mouth you have on you."

He took a small knife out of his back pocket and walked over to Kiren. He placed the tip of the knife on her cheek, puncturing it a little.

He smirked over at Yuske, "I'd be careful what you say boy. I'm not afraid to mark this pretty little girl's face. Although it would be such a drag if I did."

Yuske glared at him.

Raido smiled, "That's more like it. Now, my dear fire bird, how about you give me a good show and fight your sister? If you win, I will set you and your friends free. But if you lose, you will have to spill everything about Mazuki."

Kiren didn't answer. She couldn't speak. She was still in shock from seeing Riku in front of her. Riku raised her hand above her head and energy encircled her hand forming into a small sword. She started advancing towards Kiren.

"Kiren! You gotta move!" screamed Yuske.

Riku kept advancing towards Kiren but she just couldn't find it in her to move.

Yuske growled, "Dammit Kiren! Snap out of it!"

Riku raised her sword above her head and started to bring it down upon Kiren. Just before it reached her, Kiren managed to move just enough to barley dodge it. She looked over at Riku crying.

"Riku, what are you doing? Can't you see you're attacking your sister?"

Hiei growled, "Are you that much of an idiot? You yourself said that Riku died. What you see before you is just her body being controlled. It's not really her."

Kurama glanced over at Hiei, "I don't think anything we say is going to get through to her. All we can do is try and get ourselves out of the mess we're in."

Yuske growled as well, "Right, and just how the hell do you suggest we do that genius?"

"Remember what Raido said before? He said his ability has its limits. Meaning he can only hold us for a certain amount of time."

Raido smiled, "Yes, that is true. But you don't know how long that is and by the looks of things, it won't matter. It seems our girl here can't fight back."

Yuske glared at him for a moment before looking back over at Kiren. Riku was slicing away at her and all Kiren could do was dodge out of the way. Kiren had gained a few cuts but thankfully nothing serious...yet.

Kurama looked over at Hiei, "Hiei, considering her state of mind right now, is there any way that you can reach her telepathically?"

"Hn, it's worth a try."

He closed his eyes, trying to find a way into her head.

_"Kiren."_

No response.

_"Kiren please, can you hear me?"_

_"Hiei? How are you able to get into my head?"_

_"Your mind is in such shock, you left it open. Now you need to listen to me. That isn't your sister. You need to fight back. Do you really want Raido to know about Mazuki?"_

There was a slight pause in her response. And when she did, it was so quiet that Hiei could barely hear her thought.

_"I know what you're saying is true. But I just can't fight back. Would you be able to if you had a sister and you were put in my position?"_

Hiei thought about Yukina for a moment. He did see her point but he had to say something before she got herself really hurt.

_"I understand what you're saying, but if you don't do something quick, she's going to kill you. Or atleast almost kill you. She'll injure to the point of almost dying, Raido will get the information that he wants, and then he'll let you die. Do you really want that? What happened to wanting to train with me?"_

_"I don't want to die yet. And I really don't want to talk about Mazuki. But I don't know if I can hurt her."_

Hiei growled. _'Stupid girl. What else can I possible say to her that will get her to fight back?' _he thought to himself. An idea came to mind. Though he didn't even want to think about saying it. But she was a human girl, it might work; even if wasn't completely true.

_"Kiren, I don't want you to die. I was looking forward to training with you. When I'm around you, I feel calm and relaxed. I see you as a worthy opponent and a great asset to the team. I see you as a friend and I don't want to see you get hurt."_

Kiren smiled in his head.

_"You're a horrible liar Hiei. But thank you...I will try."_

She cut off the link between them and focused on Riku. She went to grab her little piece of metal to create her sword; but Riku was faster than she was and stabbed her sword into Kiren's left shoulder just above her heart.

Kiren screamed in pain clutching her shoulder.

"Kiren!" screamed Yuske.

Raido smiled, "Be careful my pet. I don't want her to die just yet."

Kiren winced in pain, "I'm not gonna die. And you're not going to get information out of me either!"

Kiren got her piece of metal out and transformed it into her sword. She slashed it at Riku but Riku easily dodged it. With dodging it she pulled out her sword causing Kiren to scream again.

Kiren held her free hand on her wound and charged at Riku. They went back and forth between slashing and dodging each other. As time continued between them Kiren was getting slower and it was getting harder for her to breathe.

Kurama got a worried look in his eyes, "She's lost too much blood. She won't be able to last much longer."

"Come on Kiren! You've got this!" yelled Yuske.

_'Thanks Yuske. But Kurama's right; I'm not going to be able to keep this up much longer. I have to do something fast,' _she thought to herself.

She dodged a few more attacks by Riku while thinking. There was an opening in Riku's attacks; but if she took that opening, it would cause her a great deal of damage.

_"Hiei, can you hear me?"_

_"What is it?"_

_"I have a shot at her, but it's not going to be pretty for me. You guys will have to take care of Raido quickly."_

_"Girl, what are you talking about?!"_

She looked over at Hiei with a genuine smile.

_"Thank you for getting my head out of my ass for this fight. Take care of everything for me."_

Kiren disconnected with him and turned her attention back to Riku. She did one more dodge and landed over by Yuske with her back to him. Riku charged at her and Kiren took her opportunity as Riku thrusted her sword at her.

Kiren stabbed Riku in the neck and then proceeded to slice off her head.

Yuske smiled, "That's it Kiren! Great job!"

Kurama gasped, "Oh no."

Yuske glanced over at Kurama, "What's up Kurama?"

Kurama's eyes glazed over a little, "Look closer at Kiren. She took a blow to deliver one."

"What?"

Raido's eyes went wide, "Fire bird! What do you think you're doing?! How am I supposed to get information out of you if you don't stay alive to give it?!"

With Raido's outburst, his hold on the rest of the gang let up. Everyone ran over to Kiren who had fallen on the ground. Yuske looked at her and got wide eyed. Now that Riku wasn't in the way of his vision, he saw that Riku's sword was stabbed right through Kiren's stomach.

He knelt down by her, "Kiren! Hey Kiren, you with me?"

She coughed a little laugh, "Hey Yuske. Yeah, I'm still here. Go beat the shit outta Raido for me."

Yuske gritted his teeth. He wanted to stay by Kiren and he wanted to beat the crap outta Raido at the same time. He was in-between deciding when he saw Hiei at of the corner of his draw out his katana.

Hiei looked over at Yuske, "You stay with her, Raido's mine."

Yuske nodded and laid Kiren's head in his lap as Kurama tried helping out with her injury.

Hiei glared over at Raido and started walking towards him.

Raido nervously chuckled, "Quite the look you've got there. I would say it matches the ones Kiren used to give me."

"Hn."

Hiei quickly disappeared and was behind Raido.

"You are a filthy excuse for a demon. Die."

Raido screamed as Hiei sliced off his head silencing him. Hiei sheathed his sword and went back over to the others.

He looked over at Kurama, "How is she?"

Kurama shook his head, "She needs immediate attention. Yuske has already called Koenma for a portal."

Hiei nodded and went back over to Raido and picked up the ring that they had been sent to get in the first place. By the time that he walked back over to the others, the portal was there and Yuske was carefully putting Kiren on his back to go through.

Everyone went through the portal as quickly as they good. As soon as they were through, they were met with a medical team and Kiren was hurried away to a medical room.

The gang was out in the waiting room. Yuske and Kuwabara were sitting on the bench and Kurama and Hiei were leaning against the wall; all waiting to hear on how Kiren was doing.

After hours of sitting and waiting, one of the doctors finally came out of her room. Yuske stood up and ran over to him.

"Hey, is she ok?"

The man nodded, "Just barely. A few minutes longer and she wouldn't have made it."

Everyone sighed with relief except for Hiei who just had a small smile on his face that no one saw.

Yuske smiled at the doctor, "I'm glad she's alive. Can we go see her?"

He nodded, "You may, though she is asleep. Please don't wake her."

Yuske nodded and everyone went into Kiren's room. Her breathing was a bit uneven but she seemed to be doing ok. Yuske went and sat down beside her in the chair that was by her bed.

He put his hand around hers, "Get some rest Kiren. You've earned it."

They stayed with her for a while before everyone decided that it was time to leave. Yuske really wanted to see Keiko and Kuwabara didn't want to get yelled at by his sister. Kurama wanted to go see his mother so he left as well.

Hiei was the only one left. Thankfully Kiren's room was on the outside of the building so there was a window sill for him to sit on. He sat down and then stole a glance over at Kiren.

_'Why am I sitting here? It's not like I really care about her anything. She's just another member of the team like Yuske and the baka. They said she was going to be alright so why am I staying?' _he thought to himself.

He thought about what Kiren had told Kurama about how she felt at peace when she was around him. And thinking back on what he had told her to get her into a fighting mood, he realized what he had said wasn't all completely a lie.

He went back and thought over all the times that he watched Kiren from a distance after that first mission. At first, he was annoyed that Genkai had even asked him to do such a ridiculous thing as to watch over Kiren in case she did anything stupid.

The first few days he reluctantly hung around. She wasn't doing anything interesting. She just sat by the river crying. But after she seemed to finally calm down, he took interest in her training herself.

After that, he found himself constantly around. When she went to her room to sleep, he was in the tree outside her window. He didn't know why, but he was starting to look forward to watching her. He didn't know what was coming over him and he wasn't sure if he was liked it or not.

He shook his head and looked out the window. _'I just have to ignore it. She's a member of the team, nothing else. I don't need anyone or anything. Friendships and other relationships are weak and leave opening for trouble and something to be used against you,' _he thought to himself.

***Two weeks later***

Kiren slowly opened her eyes to a pitch black room. She blinked a couple of times wondering where she was. She slowly got up into a sitting position and saw a window on the other side.

Looking at the window, she saw why it was so dark in the room; it was night time. But what she also saw in the window shocked her. Hiei was in the windowsill. He seemed to be sleeping.

_'He looks so peaceful when he's asleep,' _she thought to herself.

He wasn't asleep for long. He soon opened his eyes when he felt eyes looking at him. He looked over at Kiren and gave a half smile when he saw that she was awake and sitting up.

She blushed a little when she saw him giving her that smile.

"Hey Hiei."

"Hn. Hey yourself. You know, what you did was pretty stupid."

She chuckled, "Yeah, I know. But hey, it got the job done right?"

He shook his head, "You're starting to be a female version of Yuske."

Kiren busted out laughing, "Why thank you."

After her laugh she slowly moved her legs over the side of the bed. She tried standing up but that didn't go so well. She started to fall over and was expecting to meet the ground with her face. She closed her eyes waiting for the impact but it never came. She felt a strong pair of arms around her waist holding her up. She glanced behind her to see that Hiei had caught her before she fell.

He glared at her a little, "What exactly do you think you're trying to do?"

She quickly turned her head away from Hiei's view so he wouldn't see her blush, "I wanted to join you sitting on the windowsill. It looks like such a beautiful night out."

He rolled his eyes, "You could've just said something."

He helped her walk over to the window sill and gently set her down on it. He took his place across from her and looked out the window.

Kiren looked out the window as well. _'What is going on here? Why am I feeling like this? I shouldn't be the least bit attracted to him. I know better than that. And I know he will never feel anything for me. I really need to stop these feelings from growing,' _she thought to herself.

Hiei stole a side glance at Kiren staring out the window. She had a weird look on her face. He couldn't figure out what it was. She didn't seem to be in any pain. _'I wonder what she's thinking about,' _he thought.

As he was looking at her, he couldn't help but like the way the moonlight lit her face. It accented the color in her hair and eyes. He almost could say she looked beautiful in the moonlight.

_'Wait a minute, did I really just think that she was beautiful? Nonsense. I have no need for such thoughts.'_

But he couldn't help but keep looking at her. He wasn't sure what was coming over him; but he needed to stop it quickly.

***The next day***

Yuske and the others were back and chatting away with Kiren. One of the doctors came in and smiled at what he saw. Kiren had a big smile on her face and she was laughing at something that was said.

He cleared his throat to get their attention, "It seems that you are doing well. You are more than welcome to go back home if you would like."

She got a big smile on her face, "Thank you!"

She got out of her bed, grabbed her clothes that were in the closet and went into the bathroom to change. When she came out she looked at the boys and smiled.

"Alright, who's going to be a gentleman and escort me back home to Genkai's?"

Everyone but Hiei smiled and they exited the room and went to Koenma's office to get portal back to Genkai's place.

They sat and visited for a while until the sun went down. When the sun had set, everyone went back home and left Kiren in her room. A knock on the door got Kiren's attention.

"Yes?"

Genkai opened the door and walked in.

"Good to see you back squirt."

Kiren smiled, "Hey Genkai. Sorry about the house work. I'll get on that tomorrow."

Genkai shook her head with a smile, "Don't worry about it. You just get some rest"

Kiren got a big smile on her face, "Thanks grandma. I'll do that."

Genkai nodded and left, closing the door. Kiren opened her window and crawled out and upwards towards the roof. She got on the roof and laid down looking at the stars.

She sighed, "Well, I guess we'll see how training goes with Hiei."

She closed her eyes and fell asleep with Hiei on her mind.


	9. Chapter 9

_Hello everyone! I'm SOOOOOOOOOO sry that this is so late in coming out. I'm blaming Skyla15699 for this XD lol J/K Skyla! She told me about some really good stories to read and that's all that I've been doing lately. So, yes, my fault for not updating and I'm really really really really sorry! Here's Chapter 9 and I hope you guys enjoy it! Please leave a review! :)_

* * *

Hiei opened his eyes to small screams and whimpers. He searched for the source of the noise and saw Kiren rolling back and forth on the roof; her arms were covering her face so he couldn't tell if they were open or not.

He jumped from his tree and landed on the roof next to Kiren. She was laying on her back now; sweat droplets covered her face and her brows were furrowed together. Hiei reached his hand out to shake her a little and wake her up; but just before he made contact with her she shot upright screaming "NO!", panting a little.

Hiei sat there stunned, not quite sure what to do. It took Kiren a couple of minutes before she realized that Hiei was sitting right next to her. She blinked a couple of times before scooting to the edge of the roof away from Hiei.

Hiei looked at her oddly, staying silent. His eyes locked with hers; crimson asking silver what's wrong. Kiren closed her eyes and took a deep breath.

"Sorry, I'm just a little jumpy right now."

Hiei nodded and sat there, waiting for Kiren to calm down. After what seemed like hours, Kiren finally opened her eyes and scooted back over by Hiei. They sat in silence for a moment; each other waiting for the other to speak first.

Kiren broke the silence, "I'm sorry if I woke you."

He shook his head, "You didn't."

She looked down at her lap, "Oh, ok."

Awkward silence.

Kiren started twiddling her thumbs, the silence making her very uncomfortable.

"So, how about-"

"What was the dream about?"

She quickly looked up at Hiei. She saw curiosity in his eyes as well as a hint of another emotion that she couldn't quite pinpoint. She looked away from him, unable to take the ferocity of his stare.

"Nothing really."

"Hn, didn't seem like 'nothing' to me."

She looked at him out of the corner of her eye, "What do you mean?"

He crossed his arms, "By your movements and facial expressions, I'd say that you were having a nightmare."

_'He doesn't miss anything, does he?' _she thought to herself.

She shook her head and stood up, "Just memories that I wish I could forget."

He was about to ask about them when they heard someone yelling quite loudly down below.

"KIREN! HEY, WHERE YA AT?"

Kiren walked over to the edge of the roof closest to the voice and looked down to see Yuske looking around.

"Up here Yuske!"

He turned around and looked up at the roof. He smiled when he saw Kiren.

"Get your ass down here woman!"

She smiled and went to jump down when an arm stopped her. She looked behind herself at Hiei with questioning eyes.

"What do you think you're doing?"

"Jumping down to see what Yuske wants?"

He shook his head, "You've just gotten out of the hospital from having a hole in your stomach. You shouldn't be jumping from this height. Plus, normal humans wouldn't survive it to begin with."

She smirked at him, "Who said I was a normal human? And as for my injury," she turned towards him and lifted her shirt a little to show where the wound had been, "I think I'm perfectly fine."

Hiei's eyes widened a little bit. Where there had been a wound just the other day was only a faint scar. He eyed her warily as she turned around and jumped off the roof, landing next to Yuske.

_'Normal people can't heal that fast. Besides demons, the only other person who could heal like that would be Kurama because of Yoko. This girl keeps intriguing me,'_ he thought to himself before joining the other two.

Kiren had a big smile on her face due to the confused look on Yuske's face.

"How in the hell did you do that?"

"I just jumped down? I don't see what the big deal is."

Yuske looked thoughtful for a moment before he just gave up and shook his head.

"Anyway, Keiko asked me to come and get you."

Kiren raised an eyebrow, "Why?"

He laughed, "I don't know. She just told me to come find you and bring you to her. She's a little hard to turn down."

Kiren laughed. She's seen a couple of times where Keiko hit him pretty good when he didn't listen to her or made a rude remark. She made a note the first time she ever witnessed it to never get on Keiko's bad side.

"Where's she at?"

He pointed back towards the temple, "She's in the living room waiting for ya."

She smiled, "All right."

She went inside and searched out Keiko. The temple was a big place so it took her a few minutes to get to the living room. Keiko turned around when she heard Kiren walk in and a big smile spread across her face.

"Kiren!"

Keiko ran over to her and gave her a big hug.

Kiren laughed, "Why hello to you too there Keiko."

Keiko stood back from her and smiled, "It's been forever since I've seen you!"

Kiren couldn't help but smile with her, "That it has. It's good to see you. To what do I owe the honor of you seeking me out?"

Keiko giggled, "Well, aside from checking up on you, I wanted to see if you were free this afternoon."

Kiren tilted her head, "Check up on me? How'd you know?"

"Yuske told me. I'm glad to see you up and moving around."

Kiren smiled, "Most definitely. Anyway, I was only going to train a little today. Other than that I don't really have anything going on, what's up?"

"Well, I was going to see if you wouldn't mind having a girl's day out? Yukina, Botan and Shizuru already agreed and I figured you could use a break from everything else."

Kiren blinked a couple of times, "Yukina, Botan and Shizuru?"

Keiko had a blank look for a second before realization hit, "Oh! You haven't met them yet have you?"

Kiren shook her head.

"I'm so sorry! Shizuru is Kuwabara's sister, Yukina is a good friend of the group and Botan is the Grim Reaper of Spirit World. I can't wait for you to meet them!"

Kiren blinked a few times, "Grim Reaper? Like black hood, boney, large scythe and the whole shebang?"

Keiko laughed, "No, quite the contrary. You'll just have to meet her."

Kiren looked confused for a second and then shook her head. Then she smirked as another realization hit, "So, the dumbass has a sister. This should be interesting. Let me go get ready and then we'll go ok?"

Keiko nodded and Kiren headed up to her room. She went over to the dresser and pulled out a pair of bell bottom jeans and a blue long sleeved shirt with a butterfly design on it and headed to the bathroom. She took a quick shower and quickly got dressed. Dabbed on a little make up and went downstairs to Keiko.

Keiko looked at Kiren's outfit and gave a confused face, "Kiren, its blazing hot outside. Wouldn't you rather wear a tank top or something?"

She gave a sheepish smile, "I'm just weird I guess."

Keiko stared at her for a moment but just shook her head and grabbed Kiren's hand, "Oh well, let's go!"

Yuske and Hiei entered the room just as the girls were leaving. Yuske had a puzzled look on his face.

"Ya know, come to think of it, I've never seen Kiren wear anything but long sleeved shirts and pants. Even in the desert."

He looked over at Hiei, "Think it means anything?"

Hiei shrugged his shoulders, "How am I supposed to know? I really don't care either way."

Yuske smirked, "Come on Hiei, you can't tell me that you're not curious as to why she won't show her arms or anything. Don't you wonder what kind of secrets that holds?"

Hiei's eyebrow twitched a little, "Whatever, I'm getting out of here."

Yuske laughed and went to go do his own thing.

****Girls****

Keiko had drug Kiren down Genkai's awful stairs, and half way across town to an apartment complex where three girls were sitting outside. One was tall and had long brown hair and a cigarette permanently attached to her mouth.

She was talking animatedly with another girl to Kiren's right that was much shorter than her. About the same height as Kiren and Hiei she realized. She had beautiful turquoise hair tied in a bright red ribbon at the bottom and she had on a light blue kimono.

On the other side of the cigarette lady was another girl who was almost as tall as the one with the cigarette. She had cotton candy blue hair tied up in a ponytail and she was wearing a pair of jeans and a yellow shirt.

The chatter stopped when Keiko and Kiren got close to them. The three smiled when the girls stopped in front of them.

Keiko smiled back and turned to face Kiren and introduced everyone from Kiren's left to right.

"Kiren, this is Botan, Shizuru and Yukina."

Kiren bowed, "It's a pleasure to meet you."

Shizuru smiled, "No need to be so formal kid. My baby bro and Yuske have told me all about you. You're cool in my book girl."

Kiren smiled, "Why thank you!"

Botan gave her a big hug, almost knocking her over, "It's so great to finally meet you! Koenma's been keeping me SO busy with paperwork that I haven't been able to actually greet you myself!"

Kiren gave a small chuckle, "Ya know, you're nothing like the Grim Reapers that we learn about in school."

She rolled her eyes, "I have no idea where in the world people came up with those ideas."

Kiren busted out laughing, "Well, for what it's worth, I much prefer you the way you are."

Botan got a big smile on her face as Yukina walked up to Kiren and gave her a big smile, "It's a pleasure to meet you. Kazuma has told me all about you."

Kiren tilted her head a little, "Kazuma?"

Yukina looked at Kiren and what Kiren saw made her make a small gasp; she could've swore she was staring right into Hiei's eyes. Yukina's eyes were the exact same crimson that Kiren was used to looking into with Hiei.

Yukina didn't notice Kiren's reaction when she answered, "I'm sorry, you probably know him as Kuwabara. Kazuma is his first name."

Kiren stowed away Yukina's eyes to think about later and smiled at her, "Oh, ok, makes sense now."

Shizuru clapped her hands together, "Alright kiddies, let's get this shopping spree started!"

Botan got all hyped up, "Oh yes! Let's! It's been ages since I've had a girl's day out!"

Kiren laughed, "Alright, but let's not get too crazy, I'm not exactly made out of money ya know."

Keiko smiled a really big smile at her. "Keiko, why are you looking at me like that?"

Keiko let out a giggle, "Don't worry about that! We've all put together what we have and we're treating you!"

Kiren got wide eyed, "Whoa, whoa, whoa, wait, what?!"

Shizuru put her arm around Kiren's shoulders, "Yeah, we've decided to all get together and spoil you rotten. Don't complain kid."

Kiren shook her head, "No, I'm not complaining, just wondering why? I mean, besides Keiko, this is the first time that I've met you guys."

Shizuru laughed, "We've been told about what you and the guys have been up to lately and we just wanted to say thanks and take you out. So let's get going."

Shizuru grabbed Kiren by the hand and started dragging her down the street towards all the shops. Kiren spent the whole day being drug into store after store; being made to try on outfit after outfit. At around noon, the girls went to Keiko's family ramen shop for lunch.

Keiko laughed, "Wow, this is the most fun I've had in ages! Although, Kiren, why wouldn't you let us see how tank tops looked on you? Or shorts for that matter?"

Kiren choked on her noodles a little, "N-no real specific reason really. I'm just...really shy...that's all."

Shizuru chuckled, "We'll take that for now. But hey, I just thought of something fun. Its summer vacation now for you school kiddies right?"

Keiko nodded, "Yeah, we just started it a few weeks ago actually. What's up?"

Shizuru smirked, "I say we get everybody together and go to the beach."

Yukina perked up, "That's a wonderful idea! I think it would be so much fun!"

Keiko's eyes had a sparkle in them, "I completely agree! We SO have to go shopping for suits!"

Botan stood up from her seat, "Yes! Let's go!"

Kiren tried protesting but was only met with three hands tugging her towards another store. Kiren stood outside the changing rooms while the others tried on dozens of suits; asking Kiren every time what she thought of it.

After the other three had chosen their suits they turned onto Kiren.

Shizuru placed her arm around Kiren's shoulders again, "So kid, you ever gonna try on a suit?"

Kiren shook her head and got out of Shizuru's clutches, "I've already got my own, I'm good."

Keiko tilted her head, "You ok Kiren?"

Kiren put on the best smile she could, "Yeah, I just like the suit that I have."

Yukina put a hand on Keiko's arm, "I think it's great that she has one. We shouldn't force her to get a different one."

Keiko gave a slight frown but then smiled and everyone left the store laughing. They made the long trek back to Genkai's talking and laughing up a storm.

The guys were sitting in Genkai's living room talking about what had been going on lately.

Yuske sat up, "Have you noticed how lately the past couple of missions have been kinda focused around Kiren?"

Kurama had his ever present thinking face, "Yes, that does seem to be the case doesn't it?"

Kuwabara scratched his head, "What do you think it means?"

Yuske sighed and lay back in the chair that he was sitting in, "I have no freakin' clue. Kurama, Hiei, what do you think?"

Hiei was sitting on the window sill like always looking out the window, "What does it matter? You make it sound like Koenma had it planned that we met up with Kiren because he knew that this was going to be happening."

Kurama gave a glance at Hiei, "It is a possibility. I say let's just keep an eye out. I have a sinking suspicion that this isn't over yet."

Yuske looked at Kurama confused, "What do you mean?"

Kurama smiled at him, "Nothing really."

Yuske was about to retort but was cut off with very loud laughter coming in through the doorway. Kuwabara immediately got up and ran towards the noise screaming "My beloved Yukina! You're home!"

Yukina smiled up at him, "Hello Kazuma."

Everyone was talking animatedly as Kiren snuck off with her few bags that she had allowed the girls to buy her and went up to her room. She put everything away and then headed to the kitchen to start dinner. Kurama walked in as she was starting.

"Everything ok? You snuck off without saying hello."

She smiled at him before continuing chopping up vegetables, "Yes, I'm fine. I just wanted to get dinner started. It was so nice of them to take me out today and I wanna thank them."

Kurama came up beside her, "Mind if I help?"

She flinched a little at Kurama's closeness, "Go right ahead."

Kurama noticed the flinch but decided to ignore it and went ahead and started helping. After a while of cooking, Kiren and Kurama set the table and invited everyone in for dinner.

After dinner and a couple of hours of chatter, everyone started going home. Keiko and Yuske were the last to leave. Keiko gave Kiren a big hug.

"Now don't forget, we're going to the beach tomorrow!"

She put on her best smile she could, "Right! See you guys tomorrow!"

After they left, Kiren went outside for a walk in the forest. She walked until she found a clearing and sat in the middle of it. She crossed her legs and closed her eyes, concentrating on her hands. Hiei was watching from a nearby tree. He had noticed her unsettlement ever since she had gotten back with the rest of the girls. He was about to jump down and talk to her but Kurama beat him to it.

Kurama sat down beside Kiren, "Do you need to get something off your chest?"

She responded without opening her eyes, "I don't know what you're talking about."

He smiled, "You've been tense ever since you got back today. What happened?"

She sighed and looked over at him, "Nothing. Why do you keep asking?"

He smiled, "I'm just concerned is all."

Her eyes narrowed, "Why? You know absolutely nothing about me; you have no obligation to even be talking to me. I'm just someone that Koenma has helping him."

Kurama frowned, "Does there have to be a reason to be friends?"

She stood up and turned away from him, "If you guys were smart, you'd stay the hell away from me."

He stood up behind her, "Why would you say something like that?"

Her fists clenched a little, "All I am is trouble. I'm just a nuisance to everyone around me. I never know when something's going to happen."

Kurama looked at her with a confused face, "What do you mean?"

Her voice shook a little, "It's always that damn Mazuki. Mazuki this, Mazuki that. She's almost a freakin' god to all demons of demon world and everyone wants her. Somehow they found out that I have a connection to her and everyone wants me to figure out what it is. I've been running from them since I was a very young child. I shouldn't even be here."

Kurama shocked her by wrapping his arms around her from behind. She started struggling trying to get out of his grip but he wasn't letting her go. Hiei glared at him from his tree. He couldn't figure out why it made him angry though.

"Let me go!"

He shook his head. Her eyes started tearing up, "Why won't you let me go?"

He turned her around to face him, "You no longer have to think like that. We're not normal people ourselves. I think we can take care of ourselves."

She shook her head, "The demons that come after me are not the only things that you have to worry about."

He raised his eyebrow, "What are you talking about?"

She swiped his arms off of her and backed away from him, "I have another side to me Kurama. A side that's not very nice."

He got a more confused look, "I'm afraid I don't quite understand."

She shook her head, "You're not supposed to. Goodnight Kurama."

Kurama managed to grab her shoulder before she was out of his reach and spun her around. He didn't meet with silver though. Instead, he was met with navy blue that almost looked black in the night.

Kiren spoke, but it didn't sound like her, "Let go of me fox boy if you value the use of your hands."

He tilted his head, "Kiren?"

She shook her head, "Not the one that you know."

Kurama started asking a question but in that split second, she was gone. Hiei jumped down and stood next to Kurama.

"What do you think that was?"

Kurama had a dangerous twinkle in his eyes, "That was a display of why Kiren doesn't want to get close to people."

Hiei glared at him a little, "You know what I mean."

He smirked, "I have a couple of ideas but I'm not quite certain on them."

Hiei narrowed his eyes at him, "Quit being vague fox."

Kurama raised his eyebrow, "Why the sudden interest Hiei. Are you by chance concerned about her?"

He growled, "Don't be ridiculous! I'm just intrigued, that is all."

With that, Hiei disappeared in the direction back towards the house. Kurama smiled and went his own way.

Hiei arrived back at Genkai's to find Kiren sitting on the roof again. He jumped up and sat down beside her.

"To what do I owe the honor of your presence?"

He looked at her out of the corner of his eye. Her eyes were silver again and she had a blank expression on her face, completely emotionless.

She stole a glance at him when she was met with silence, "Lemme guess, you're curious about what happened when I was with Kurama?"

He looked up at the sky, "Of course I am."

She sat up and covered her eyes with her hair, "Only cuz it might have something to do with Mazuki right?"

Hiei looked back at her with slightly wide eyes. Normally his immediate response would have been yes. But for some odd reason he was hesitating and he couldn't quite figure out why. He had the sudden urge to pull her against his chest and comfort her.

She looked over at him with eyes that were trying to be blank, but he noticed pain and hurt in them. His body went against his better judgment and pulled Kiren towards him so that she was sitting in his lap with her head against his chest and his arms around her.

"Hiei wha-"

He shook his head to silence her. He didn't know what was going on but for some odd reason it felt right to him. He rested his chin on her head as he spoke to her.

"It's not because it might have something to do with Mazuki. I don't know why but for some odd reason I was wondering what was wrong with you earlier today and was going to talk to you about it but that damn fox got there before I did."

_'Why am I getting this warm feeling with him holding me like this? I shouldn't be this close to him but I can't seem to pull myself away from him,' _she thought to herself.

They sat like this in comfortable silence until Kiren fell asleep. When he was sure she was fully asleep, he picked her up and carried her to her room and laid her on her bed. After he had her covers on her, he went back to his tree thinking about what just happened.

_'What in the world just happened? This is not right. I need to distance myself from her,' _he thought to himself.

Morning came and Kiren was shocked to find herself in her bed. A small blush came to mind when she remembered what happened last night. _'I must've fallen asleep in Hiei's arms. I must not let that happen again. I'll just act like nothing happened when I see him today,' _she thought.

She got out of bed and went to the bathroom to take a shower. Feeling clean, she wrapped a towel around herself and went to her dresser. She pulled out her swim suit, a blue two piece tankini with silver dragons on it and put it on. Then she grabbed another pair of jeans and another long sleeved tee-shirt and put them on over her swim suit. After she was fully dressed she went downstairs.

Just as she made it to the kitchen to make breakfast, the doorbell rang. She went to answer it but just before she reached the door it busted open with Botan shouting "Good morning everyone!"

Kiren smiled as everyone filed in, "Perfect timing everyone, I was just about to make breakfast."

Shizuru smiled, "Morning kid. Sounds like a plan. We'll eat and then head out for some total fun at the beach!"

Kiren sighed to herself. _'Just what have I gotten myself into?' _she thought before heading back to the kitchen, dreading what this day would bring.

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_And there it is ppl! Chapter 9 :) I'm still in a writing mode so I'm going to be starting Chapter 10 here in a minute. I'm really sorry about Hiei. It is SO hard to write a fic where the OC and him get together without writing him atleast somewhat out of character. I'm hoping that it was too bad and that you all can forgive me :) I'm hoping you guys enjoyed the chapter and I'm hoping for some reviews! They're great motivators ya know *hint hint wink wink* XD lol Til next time! :)_


	10. Chapter 10

_To make up for my absence, I made sure to stay up and finish chapter 10! Sorry for making everybody wait for an update! Hope you read and enjoy and hopefully I'll get some reviews! Thanks for waiting!_

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After breakfast the whole gang went to the beach that was just down a ways from Genkai's place. The girls were ahead of the boys, chatting away all excitedly; well, except for Kiren who was just trying not to get squished by the rest of them. The boys followed behind them in complete silence.

When they made it to the beach Botan, Keiko, Shizuru and Yukina immediately went straight into the water with Yuske and Kuwabara right behind them. Kiren stood at the edge of the sand farthest away from the water and laid out a towel to lie on.

Kurama walked up beside her with a smile on his face, "Not going swimming?"

She smiled at him sheepishly, "No. I'm not really one for water."

Yuske ran up to her, "What are you, scared of a little water?"

Kiren closed her eyes so he couldn't see her full expression, "No, I'm just not one for swimming."

Yuske had a questionable look on his face before he heard Keiko calling for him. He shrugged his shoulders and went to join the girls. Kiren laid down on her towel putting her arms behind her head to lie on and closed her eyes. Kurama sat down next her and looked over at her.

"Hey Kiren-"

"No."

He raised his eyebrow, "What do you mean 'no'?"

"You were gonna ask me about last night. And no, I won't tell you about it."

Kurama chuckled and looked back out at the others playing in the water. Hiei scowled at him from the tree that he was sitting in. He couldn't understand it but whenever Kurama got near Kiren he would start getting furious. _'I have to get myself under control. This is ridiculous,' _he thought to himself.

Botan ran up to where Kiren and Kurama were sitting and grabbed Kurama pulling him up.

"Come on Kurama! You have to come join us!"

He chuckled, "Alright, it does sound like fun."

He took off the clothes he was wearing to reveal a dark crimson red pair of swimming trunks. He ran back to the others with Botan in the lead. With Kurama's absence, Hiei took it upon himself to leap down and sit next to Kiren.

Kiren looked over at him, "Hello."

"Hn."

She smiled, "I'm actually surprised you came. Yukina can get you to do just about anything can't she?"

Hiei blushed a little and looked the other way.

"Speaking of Yukina, I noticed something about her."

He turned back towards her waiting for her to continue.

"I noticed that her eyes are identical to yours. And she has the feel about her that really reminds me of you. She's your sister isn't she?"

She took his silence as a yes.

Hiei closed his eyes, "Don't say anything about it to her."

She blinked at him a couple of times, "She doesn't know?"

He shook his head, "And I plan to keep it that way."

She sat up and stared at him with a blank expression, "Why?"

He looked up at the very clear blue sky, "I was abandoned at birth and not allowed back into the village so obviously she wouldn't have known about me when she was born."

Kiren looked down at her lap, "Ok, that makes sense. But why won't you tell her?"

Hiei shook his head, "I'm nothing but a criminal. I don't want to see her face saddened realizing that she was related to a murderous criminal."

She looked out over the water, "I don't think she would take it all to heart really. You're not like that now and I know she would be proud to have you as her brother."

Hiei gave a deep laugh, "You obviously don't know me very well."

She gave her own chuckle, "Obviously you don't know yourself. I've seen the way you are with the others. Yes, you are still vicious with fighting demons that are against us, but I highly doubt you'd go on a random killing spree."

He blinked at her a couple of times and kept quiet. After a time of silence, he spoke up.

"What's the real reason you won't go swimming?"

She smiled, "Nice change of subject there. But sorry, I don't really feel like sharing."

He turned towards her to give a comeback but stopped when he saw the look in her eyes. They were showing held sadness and fear. _'What could she be afraid of?' _he thought to himself.

She quickly shook the look away and forced a smiled, "I'm sorry, it's just really personal and I really don't wanna talk about it."

He shrugged his shoulders and looked back at the others. Yuske and Kurama looked like they were in a battle of trying to dunk each other. The girls were splashing each other. He smiled when he saw Yukina laughing.

Kiren looked over at him and smiled herself when she saw his smile.

"She does look like she's having fun doesn't she?"

He chuckled a little, "That it does. Why don't you go join them?"

She scowled at him, "You're not getting it outta me that easily small fry."

Hiei gave her a slight glare with a smirk, "You're just as 'small' as I am."

She chuckled, "Yeah, yeah, save it."

They went back to a comfortable silence when all of a sudden Kiren had four girls standing in front of her blocking out her sunlight.

She blinked up at them, "Ummmmmmm, can I help you?"

Shizuru had an evil grin on her face, "Just wondering, you did wear your swimsuit underneath that right?"

Stupidly without thinking she immediately responded with, "Of course I did."

Within a split second of Kiren saying that, the four girls had her pulled up into a standing position and had her surrounded. Hiei backed away closer to his tree, afraid of what was about to happen.

Kiren's voice got really shaky, "Guys, what's going on?"

Shizuru had an evil look in her eyes, "We decided that it's about time you came and joined us."

Kiren got wide eyed, "No! Please! I really don't want to."

Yukina piped up, "Um, guys, she's shaking really bad. I don't think we should force her to come with us."

Botan smiled at her, "Nonsense Yukina, it's all perfectly fine."

Shizuru held Kiren while Botan and Keiko started trying to take off her shirt. Kiren struggled as hard as she could but it didn't seem like it was working. The commotion attracted the others and eventually the whole gang was standing around to see what happened.

Kuwabara leaned in closer to Yuske, "Ummm, do you think we should try and stop them? I really don't wanna feel the wrath of Kiren."

Yuske smiled sheepishly, "I don't really want to either, but at the same time, I really don't wanna feel Keiko's wrath. She packs quite a punch."

Kurama laughed, "You're in trouble either way. Although I do think the girls are going a little far."

Hiei walked up to stand beside Kurama, "Yes, I do agree."

Before the boys could interject though, ripping of clothing could be heard as Kiren's shirt ripped in half causing Botan and Keiko to fall flat on their butts with what was left of Kiren's shirt.

Everyone stood in shock at what they saw. Kiren was trying to hide herself but it wasn't working very well. All over her body were multiple scars. They basically covered her whole upper torso. There wasn't really any part of her but her stomach that wasn't lined with very deep looking scars. Most of them were jagged on the edges, looking like she had been cut many times over with a knife.

Kiren stood there shaking uncontrollably for a few moments, tears swelling up threating to fall.

Botan stood up, "Kiren we-"

Kiren cut her off with breaking away from the group and ran away in the direction of Genkai's house. Within just a couple of seconds she had disappeared.

Botan got a sad look in her eyes as she stared down at her feet, "I...I had no idea...I just thought that she was being silly with saying she didn't want to swim."

Tears started rolling down her face as Shizuru spoke up, "I can see why she didn't want anyone to see. She must have been so scared about what we would think and how we would act around her if we knew what she was hiding."

Kurama started walking in the direction that Kiren had left but he didn't make it very far before Hiei had a hand on his arm stopping him.

"I don't think so Kurama. Just leave her be and let her calm down a little."

With that Hiei disappeared out of sight.

Kurama smiled, "Really, then why are you going after her Hiei?"

Kiren just kept running and running with no real destination in mind other than being as far away from the others as she could. _'Dammit! How can I face them now that they've seen? I'm such an idiot!' _she screamed at herself.

It was hours before she finally fell to her knees in a clearing somewhere; her legs couldn't carry her anymore. She hid her face in her hands, tears spilling over her fingers.

She punched the ground in frustration, causing a little bit of a small crater to form.

"Dammit, dammit, dammit! I'm so stupid!"

"Why do you think you're stupid?"

Kiren scooted back a little at the sudden appearance of a voice. Her eyes widened when she noticed it was Hiei.

_'No, no, no, no! Don't look Hiei!' _

Kiren stood up and started running away again but soon fell backwards on her butt as Hiei appeared in front of her.

He narrowed his eyes at her, "Why are you running away from me?"

She sniffled, "I don't want you to see. I didn't want anyone to see."

He crossed his arms, "Why not? It's nothing to be ashamed of."

She covered her face with her hands, "Yes it is. I'm hideous. And it shows a part of me that I'm trying so hard to forget. And now they won't look at me the same. Now every time that they look at me there will be a look of pity in their eyes and I never wanted that!"

A gentle look came into Hiei's eyes and he kneeled down in front of her putting a hand on her shoulder. He knew what it was like to be ashamed of something that happened in the past.

Kiren quickly looked up at him with surprise letting her hands fall to her lap, "Hiei what are you-"

He put a finger to her lips to silence her, "I know what it's like to want to hide and forget things that happened in the past, but really, you shouldn't be afraid of what the others think. These scars are a part of you and if there are people that can't accept that, then you have no business worrying about them."

They sat in silence for a while, Kiren's eyes closed and thinking and Hiei waiting for a response from her. Kiren's crying stopped after a bit and she finally opened her eyes. She hugged her legs to her chest and looked away from Hiei, unable to meet his gaze.

"I'm sorry that you had to see that Hiei. Ever since I met you guys and started getting close to you, I've been so scared of these scars being seen. And that you guys would either give me looks of pity or even worse, ignore me."

"Hn, foolish as always aren't you?"

She looked up at him with surprise and then a small smile graced her lips, "Yeah, I guess so huh?"

He repositioned himself so that they were sitting side by side, "Care to talk about it? How you got the scars I mean."

Kiren fidgeted a little; unsure if she should really explain or not.

Hiei looked up at the stars, "If you really don't want to tell me, you don't have to."

She gave a soft sad chuckle, "I'm sure it's not hard to guess. I've acquired these over the years with many demons trying to get information of Mazuki out of me. They thought torturing would work on me. The more that they realized that it was working; the more they tried cutting me open. The cuts got bigger and deeper each and every time. Before I knew it, by the time that I learned how to heal myself, I was fully covered in these scars."

She hugged her knees closer as she continued, "Although, that's not all they did in trying to torture information outta me."

_'I'm going to regret this, I know I am,' _he thought to himself.

Just like he had on the roof the other night, he grabbed Kiren and pulled her against his chest again.

She gave a soft chuckle, "You sure you wanna be holding such a violated girl?"

He smirked, "Hn, I can let you go if you'd like."

She gave a small smile and shook her head.

"That's what I thought. Now, I have a question for you."

She lifted her head back so that she could see his eyes, "Yes?"

He looked down at her, "Why do demons think that you have a connection with Mazuki?"

She looked away from him, "Ever since we were really little, Riku and I were always scampering around taking down demons. Just like Yuske is thought of to be a type of 'boogyman' with the demons these days, back then, Riku and I had become the 'boogymen'. As the years went on, the demons that we encountered became tougher and tougher. But even so, we just kept on at it."

She turned her head to her lap, "It all started when we fought this one group of demons. There were so many of them but Riku and I had kinda let it get to our heads that we were invincible so we thought we could take all of them on even though we were so young."

He tilted his head a little, "How young were you?"

She looked up at him, "I believe we were about 10 or 11, I can't quite remember. The fight went on for what seemed like forever. We were getting their numbers down, but it wasn't without a price. We were getting pretty tired when it got down to just a couple of them. We were pretty beat up too. One of the demons attacked Riku and got her good."

She paused for a few minutes, "What happened?"

Kiren closed her eyes, "I'm not quite for certain. All I can really remember is having this surge of power come over me and then I blacked out. When I came to, Riku was hovering over me screaming my name. When she noticed I had come around she got a really worried look in her eyes. I asked her what was wrong and she asked me if I remember what happened."

Kiren turned her gaze up towards to the stars, "I asked her what she meant and she pointed around us. All the demons were dead and cut to pieces. I asked her what happened and she said it was like I was a whole different person. She said my eyes changed color and my voice changed. There must have been some onlookers nearby because it wasn't too long after that that all these demons started looking for us."

Her hands covered Hiei's squeezing them a little, "There were so many assumptions going around. Some thought that I was a descendant of Mazuki's. Other's thought that I could somehow summon her into my body and have her fight for me. Of course, I had no clue as to what they were talking about. Riku and I did some research on her and it scared me when I learned that she was an elemental demon considering I used elements myself."

She gave a small sigh, "That's when the kidnappings started; all of them trying whatever they could to see what the connection between me and Mazuki was. They always got mad when I told them that I didn't know anything about her or what they were talking about. Everything just got worse from there. They used all sorts of tortures on me. And when that didn't work, they resorted to something else."

Hiei tightened his grip around her as she spoke. _'Doing that to such a young child and then continuing it through the years disgusts me. And then she lost her sister in the process. It's no wonder she doesn't want to get close to anyone. She doesn't want to see what happened to Riku happen to anyone else that she might care for,' _he thought.

She gave a small laugh, "This prolly seems pretty boring to you doesn't it?"

He shook his head, "No. It's nice to finally understand a few things. Thank you for telling me."

She nodded, "Please don't tell anyone else ok?"

He gave a soft smiled, "Of course."

She smiled and leaned her head against his chest. They sat like that for a while in a comfortable silence before Hiei spoke up.

"Do you think you can handle going back to Genkai's? I don't think you would really want to spend the whole night out here would you?"

She smiled, "No, I suppose not. Yeah, let's go back."

She stood up and started to walk forward but her legs felt like jelly and she started to fall. Hiei caught her and scooped her up against his chest.

She got a tiny blush on her face, "Hiei what are you doing?"

He looked down at her, "Well, obviously you aren't able to walk at the moment so I'm carrying you back."

She nodded as they headed back to Genkai's. When they got back Kiren stared at the door for a moment; debating if she really wanted to go in or not. She took a deep breath and opened the doors, walking towards the living room. To her amazement, everyone was there. She frowned a little when she saw all the worried looks on their faces. However, it seemed like no one had noticed her presence yet as a conversation started among them.

Yuske let out a sigh, "Hey guys, do you think that we should go looking for her? I mean, she's been gone for a pretty long time. Something could've happened to her."

Keiko stood up, tears almost sliding down her face, "I agree with Yuske. I feel so horrible for doing that to her. And I'm so worried. I have to know she's alright."

Kurama looked at the two, "I'm telling you she's perfectly fine. She wouldn't run out on us and I'm pretty sure she can take care of herself. We just have to sit and wait for her."

Yuske got a frustrated look on his face, "Yeah, yeah, we heard you the first few hundred times. But I can't just sit here knowing she's out there somewhere and could be in need of our help."

Kiren smiled, _'I really have gotten some pretty good friends haven't I?' _she thought.

She cleared her throat to get everyone's attention, "Hey guys."

The girls started crying and basically tackled Kiren to the floor, all flooding apologies her way. She let them carry on for a few moments before she started laughing.

They looked at her oddly, "Come on guys, it's alright. I just overreacted, that's all. As you can see I'm perfectly fine."

Everyone stayed and chatted for a while but then started to slowly dwindle away heading to their own homes. Kiren went upstairs, bidding who was left goodnight. Hiei went outside to his tree outside her window and was soon joined by the fox.

He leaned against the tree and closed his eyes, "So, Hiei, where did you run off to after Kiren left?"

"Hn, none of your business fox."

Kurama smiled, "Thank you for bringing her back. The girls were so heartbroken knowing that they had caused Kiren such pain."

Hiei scoffed, "Who said I followed her? She came back on her own."

_'I highly doubt that Hiei. Without realizing it, you're getting closer to her than you'll let on,' _he thought.

Kurama pushed off the tree and started walking towards town, "See you 'round Hiei."

He glared at his retreating figure, "Stupid fox."

Looking one more time at Kiren's window, he allowed a small smile to place on his lips before he fell asleep.

Unbeknownst to anyone else though was a figure watching the temple. He giggled in a high pitched voice.

"I knew it was a good idea to come here. I've learned many things."

He disappeared into the shadows, "Just you wait you retched girl. You won't be smiling for long."

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_And there's chapter 10! I know these two chapters that I posted have been relaxer chapters but I don't wanna end this story too quickly! Plus I gotta figure out how I'm going to write the next whole big thing that's gonna happen. I have ideas in my head of what I want, but again, not quite sure how to write it XD Anyway, I hope you enjoy and I'm hoping for some reviews! Thanks everyone!_


	11. Chapter 11

_I am SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO sry at how late this is! I got distracted with reading another story that I found again -.- I'm sorry! And then last weekend was the 4th of July so I was hanging with friends, and the weekend before that I went to an Anime Convention...I had brought my laptop with me with the intention of writing that weekend but yeah...lots of anime fans all in one place...no writing happening XD lol Anyway, I made sure to pull an all night tonight to get this out. I'm planning on continuing with chapter 12 tomorrow at work and I am planning on having that posted this weekend as I don't have plans at the moment to do anything but sadly go to work. Anyway, enough with my rambling. Here's chapter 11 for ya and I hope you enjoy! :) Reviews? Please? They are quite nice and I would enjoy reading them ever so much and they make great motivation! :) If not, oh well, I will continue anyway, they'd just be nice. Just saying lol Anyway, again, enough of my rambling, here is the beloved chapter 11 :)_

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Hiei awoke as soon as the sun came up. He stretched and looked over at Kiren's window. He tilted his head a little when he realized it was open. _'Didn't she have it closed last night?' _he thought to himself.

He jumped from his spot on the tree to her window. He looked around an empty room with no Kiren in sight. He walked down to the kitchen to see if she was making breakfast or something since she seemed to enjoy doing that, but she wasn't there either.

Kurama walked into the kitchen to see Hiei deep in thought. He smiled as he walked over to the fridge to grab something to drink.

"Something on your mind, Hiei?"

Hiei looked up at him with a slight glare, "Nothing that concerns you, Fox"

Kurama chuckled, "If you're looking for Kiren, she's not here. I'm not sure where she is."

Hiei closed his eyes, "Hn, like I would care. I have better things to do than worry about a stupid human girl like her."

He left and went outside leaving Kurama with a warm smile on his face, "Whatever you say, Hiei."

He shook his head and went about making breakfast since it was obvious that Kiren wasn't going to for once.

* * *

Hiei walked towards the forest that was by the temple, already having a good idea of where Kiren had run off to so early in the morning. After a few minutes, he arrived at the clearing that he always found her training at. He leaned against a near by tree watching her.

_'The fox is getting annoying. I'm going to have to start distancing myself from her,' _he thought to himself.

Kiren sat cross-legged concentrating on her hands, working on her fireballs that never seemed to want to get any bigger than a quarter before they exploded. After another one had exploded on her, she rested her face in her hands.

'_Dammit Kiren, get your shit together here! Don't think about Hiei like that, you know better. Nothing's ever going to come from it and you shouldn't even be thinking about these things anyway! I need to distance myself from that demon,' _she screamed in her head.

She took a deep breath and slowly let it out. She closed her eyes and put her hands out in front of herself palms up. Clearing everything from her mind except for flames, she concentrated those flames to her hands. Feeling warmth in her hand, she pictured more intense flames in her head. When she felt the increase of heat in her hand even more, she chanced opening her eyes and looking at her hands. She smiled when she saw that her whole hand was engulfed in flames.

"Good job," came a voice from behind her causing her to jump. With the surprise, she also lost her flames. She pouted at her hands and then turned her head to look behind herself to see Hiei standing there with his arms crossed and a smirk on his face.

She glared at him a little, "Thanks."

He couldn't help but smile at her glare, "What's that look for?"

Kiren looked up at the sky, "You interrupted me and made me lose my concentration."

Hiei's smirk deepened, "If that little bit made you lose it, then how do you expect to do that in a battle? A demon will obviously not allow you the time to sit there and 'concentrate'. You need to learn to summon it as if it was second nature to you and not lose it."

Her brow furrowed, "Just gotta shoot down my moment don't you?"

"No, just reminding you to think realistically. You did ask me to train you, did you not?"

She sighed, "Yes, I did. "

_'But you didn't have to shoot down my moment jackass.'_

Hiei stood next to Kiren, "Why did you come out here so early anyway?"

She looked at him out of the corner of her eye, "I woke up early and decided to come out here."

_'To be honest, I didn't sleep at all. Too much on my mind I guess.'_

Hiei sighed, _'It really irritates me that I can't see what she's thinking. Although, it shouldn't matter to me what she thinks. I just need to get this training over with and then forget about her.'_

He turned towards her, "Alright, the only way this is going to work is practice."

She scowled at him, "Well duh, I already knew that."

His eyes hardened, "I meant practicing conjuring while sparring."

She glared, "I agree, but can we atleast wait until I have the conjuring down first? I mean, I only did it once in the how many times I've tried."

"Hn, you obviously don't know how training goes, do you?"

Kiren's eyes lost all expression and her body went rigid.

Hiei tilted his head, "Kiren?"

She didn't hear him. She was lost in a memory of her and Riku.

***Flashback in Kiren's POV***

I was panting heavily with my metal sword at the ready. In front of me was my sister, Riku, panting just as hard. We were both pretty beat up and it was starting to rain.

"I think we should stop for today Riku!" I cried

My sister smiled and shook her head, "The only way I'm going to get the hang of this is if we keep practicing."

I winced. I hated attacking her, but she was so insistent. She only just realized she could create barriers a few days ago but she still wanted to get the hang of it now instead of taking the time to learn it. She said that the only way that she was going to get it down pat was if I kept coming at her with my sword so that her body learned how to protect itself without her thinking.

"Come on Riku, I think you've had enough for today," I pleaded.

She glared at me, "Kiren, don't patronize me! Now come at me or I'm going to come after you."

I sighed, _'Why does she have to be so damn persistent about this?'_

"You asked for it sis!"

I charged at her with my sword raised above my head. As I neared her I started to swing down my sword. Riku brought her arms up to guard. A little blue light appeared around her and connected with my sword. But it only lasted for a few seconds before it faded and my sword made contact with her.

I let up right away but she still flew across the ground and landed against a tree.

"Riku!"

I ran up to her as she was shakily getting up.

She smiled up at me, "I'm fine. Let's go again."

Tears came to my eyes and I shook my head, "No, we're done for today Riku. Let's go home."

She shoved me away stood up, leaning against the tree for support, "No. We're not stopping until I get this right."

My tears started falling, "Why are you so adamant about this?!"

She smiled at me, "So that I can protect you my dear little sister."

***End of flash back***

Hiei shook Kiren a little, "Kiren?"

She blinked a few times and looked up at Hiei. She shook him off and started walking away from him.

He was about to ask her what she was doing but she cut him off.

"Yes, I do know how training goes. But that doesn't mean that I have to agree with it."

After she was certain distance away from Hiei she turned back towards him. His eyes widened a little. Kiren's eyes were completely blank and emotionless.

"Let's just do this alright."

Hiei shook his head and drew his Katana, "Yes, let's."

Kiren closed her eyes and concentrated on her hands to bring forth her fire. Her hands instantly went ablaze and Hiei charged her. Without opening her eyes, Kiren dodged his attacks left and right. No matter what way he swung, Kiren moved with grace to avoid his sword.

_'This isn't like Kiren, what is going on?'_

Kiren opened her eyes and they were the blue that they had been the other night. She got a smirkish smile on her face as she looked at Hiei.

"Come now short stuff, this isn't really all you've got is it?"

One last clash and then the two separated from each other.

He glared at her, "Who are you?"

She giggled, "Awww, don't believe me that I'm Kiren?"

Hiei's eyes narrowed, "Not really. Kiren's a decent fighter, but she's been struggling summoning her elements without the use of something to start it let alone battle me at the same time. I ask again, who are you?"

A dark smirk crossed her face, "True, Kiren is a little bit clueless when it comes to her elements. She can do it. She always has been able to. She's just too scared to."

He tensed, "You still haven't answered my question."

She smiled, "Touchy aren't you? I never said I was going to answer your question. All I will say is that if you were smart, you'd stay away from Kiren."

"Just why would I listen to you?"

Her eyes hardened and her voice got a serious tone, "Kiren cares about you. She doesn't want to admit it because she knows what it'll cause. She actually cares about all of you."

She sighed, "I'm in control at the moment, but I'm not always in control when I surface. If I'm not in control, I can't tell you the damage that I will cause. If I'm not in control I destroy everything. It won't matter how much you all mean to her. If you're near, I will kill you."

Kurama came out from behind a tree, "Why aren't you always in control when you surface?"

She looked over at Kurama, "My power mixed with Kiren's power is too much for her body to handle. Since I can't take on a form by myself, our powers collide and cause a reaction that breaks my limits of control."

Hiei glared at Kurama, "What are you doing here fox?"

He smiled at Hiei, "I felt a strange power spike up and came to investigate."

Kurama looked back over at 'Kiren', "I'm shocked you're being so talkative though. Kiren's always being so secretive."

She smiled, "That's because she knows better. Too much information comes out about us and things start going downhill and I can't always protect her. The only reason I'm telling you is because I'm hoping you'll get the picture and tell her she has to leave. She knows she should but she's getting too attached to all of you."

Kurama crossed his arms and his eyes hardened with the coldness of Yoko, "And what if we don't want to tell her to leave? We're not so feeble that we can't protect ourselves from whatever may come our way while being in the presence of Kiren."

She busted out with laughter, "I can see now why she's so hesitant on leaving. However, I don't want her to get hurt with the chance of her losing someone she cares about again. I may be my own self but I do feel her pains."

Hiei looked over at her, "What are you to Kiren? Or what is Kiren to you?"

She glanced over at Hiei, "She is many things to me and I'm many things to her. I take care of the things that she can't handle. When her emotions get the better of her, I put her to sleep and come out until she can deal with them. However, I am not a split personality fox boy. I am my own person."

Kurama smiled, "Your name wouldn't happen to be Mazuki would it?"

She turned her attention to Kurama, "Why would you say that?"

"Well, your eyes and powers are a main deduction. Your attitude is as well. I've traveled many places and heard many things and I've heard lots of things about Mazuki."

She smiled, "Oh? And just what have you heard?"

He smirked, "Many things that make me think that you're her. I had a couple of theories from the other night when you threatened my hands. I figured that either Kiren had a split personality or,"

She glared, "Or what?"

"Or, you were just like me. Demons around Makai know me as Yoko Kurama the demon fox who loves hunting for treasure. However, amongst my thievery, there was a hunter who actually got me. And as a result, I came to human world in spirit formed and entered the womb of a mother about to give birth to a child. I figured I would hide there until I had gained enough of my spirit energy and then leave."

She smiled, "I see someone got attached. From what I know of Yoko, you look nothing like him and you don't have near enough energy as he did."

Kurama smirked, "Well, that supports my latter theory. If you know of Yoko, then you must be from Makai many years ago."

She laughed, "I shall leave you to ponder that my dear fox. Now, it's been a while since I've taken over this long so when I go back, Kiren will be passed out from exhaustion. Nothing will wake her, just please make sure she doesn't hurt herself."

Her eyes closed and she started falling forward towards the ground. Hiei quickly sheathed his sword and caught her just before she hit the ground. Cradling her in his arms, he looked over at Kurama.

"So, what do you make of it now?"

Kurama walked over to Hiei and examined Kiren, "I would say that I am correct in my latter theory in that Mazuki did the exact same thing that I did. Took the soul of an unborn child and hid in human world."

Hiei looked down at Kiren, "We can't know that for sure though unless Kiren tells us."

Kurama turned and started walking back towards the temple, "Yes, that is true. Come, let's get Kiren to her bed and let her rest a while."

Hiei nodded and followed Kurama back to the temple.

* * *

A few hours later, Kiren opened her eyes and looked around confused.

"How did I end up back in my bedroom?"

Kurama walked in with a cup of tea, "Hiei carried you back after your fell unconscious."

She tilted her head a bit, "Fell unconscious?"

He nodded as he handed her the cup, "Yes, just drink this for now and Hiei will explain later I'm sure."

Kiren stared down at her cup, _'Shit, she came out again didn't she? I wonder if she said anything to them.'_

Kurama left Kiren to her thoughts. She finished her tea and then layed on her back staring at the ceiling. After a while, she felt a breeze from her newly opened window and looked over to see Hiei sitting on her window sill.

She looked back up without saying anything. They sat in silence for what seemed like hours before Kiren finally broke the silence.

"Did she say anything to you?"

He looked over at her, trying to read her face but it was expressionless yet again.

"Mainly that we should tell you to leave and have nothing else to do with you."

She smiled, "That sounds like her. She's always looking out for me."

"Who is she?"

Kiren looked over at Hiei, "She didn't tell you?"

He shook his head, "Kurama asked if she was Mazuki, but she avoided the question."

Kiren smiled, "She likes to do that. She doesn't like answering questions. It's nice to know that she didn't do anything to you guys though."

"She did mention that she's not always in control of herself when she takes over. How often does that happen?"

Her eyes glazed over, "More than I'd like to admit. Which is why I really shouldn't be here."

She heard movement and suddenly Hiei was right in her face, barely inches from hers, "How many times do we have to tell you that you're perfectly fine here and that we can take care of ourselves?"

Kiren glared and got a little closer to his face, "You have NO idea what she can do. You have no idea the damage that she can do. She could flatten this temple and the entire town with it in just a blink of an eye; not caring at all that she's killing innocent people or people that I've somehow managed to get close to."

He matched her glare, "I'm pretty sure that we could handle ourselves. You're not giving us enough credit here."

She sighed and brought a hand up to her temple and massaged a little, "Why do you care anyway? I'm just some girl that Koenma wanted to tag along with his little team of Spirit Detectives."

Silence took over the room. _'Why do I care? She's just another annoying human girl who needs babysitting. Is Mazuki the reason I stick around? Or am I slowly gaining respect for her like what I have for the fox and Urameshi?'_

A different feeling started to surface during his thinking. He finally realized how close he was to Kiren and that he was on top of her. He quickly jumped off and went back to the window.

Kiren blushed a little as she also realized how close they had been. _'Ok feelings, you can go away any time now.'_

She calmed down a little and got her face in order and then sat up and looked over at Hiei.

"You never answered my question."

"Mazuki of course! Nothing else!" he shouted out of annoyance and not wanting to admit to something else. He looked over at Kiren and immediately regretted what he had just said.

Kiren's bangs her covering her eyes and he could see silent tears running down her face.

"I knew it. That's all anyone ever cares about is her! No one ever thinks about me and how I might feel about some things."

She wiped her eyes and crawled out of her bed and went towards her door.

"Where are you going?"

She paused for a moment as she was opening the door, "Away from you."

She slammed the door shut and started running down the stairs leaving a stunned Hiei in her window.

Kurama looked up when he heard the sounds of footsteps on the stairs. He had a smile on his face until he saw Kiren.

He stretched his arm out towards her, "Kiren what's-"

"Shut up! Just leave me alone!"

She stormed out of the temple and ran off to who knows where; again.

Kurama put his arm down and walked upstairs to Kiren's room to see Hiei sitting in the window with a stunned look on his face.

"Hiei, what did you say to Kiren?"

Hiei was taken out of his trance at the sound of the fox's elegant voice.

He glared at Kurama, "None of your business."

Kurama returned his glare, "Oh, I think it is. She seemed quite upset and the fact that you're still here in her room brings me to the conclusion that you said something to make her cry. Now, let me ask you again, what did you say to her Hiei?"

He grunted, "Nothing."

Before Kurama could continue his interrogation, Hiei jumped out of the window and started running towards the direction that he felt Kiren's energy at.

Kurama crossed his arms and stared at where Hiei had been, "I don't know what you said to her Hiei, but you better make it up to her and bring her home."

* * *

Kiren ran without stopping until it was dark out. She found herself on a mountain somewhere that she didn't know where it was. She fell to the ground on her back and stared up at the night sky.

_'Stupid Hiei. Although, it shouldn't bother me so much that the only reason he's even talking to me is because of Mazuki. I shouldn't be getting close to him. I shouldn't be having these feelings for him. But I can't stop them, and it hurts so much to hear from the one that I care about the most over there that he doesn't even think that I'm worth his time. I'm just a tool to get information out of. Nothing more. I guess that's how it should be.'_

A high pitched laugh came from behind her and she quickly rose to her feet and spun around. A short man with really weird glasses and almost zero pure white hair was standing in front of her.

"Who are you?"

The man giggled, "Someone who is very interested in you my dear."

"D-d-don't come any closer!"

He gave a disgusting smiled, "Sorry, but you're coming with me."

* * *

Hiei arrived at the bottom of the mountain that Kiren was on. _'I finally caught up to her.'_

He heard a loud scream that sounded like Kiren's voice and quickly ran up the mountain. When he reached the top he caught a glimpse of an unconscious Kiren being carried by a small man into a portal. He turned towards Hiei just as he was about all the way through.

He smirked at Hiei, "Sorry, but she's mine now."

He vanished into the portal the rest of the way and the portal closed before Hiei could reach it.

"Dammit!"

He raced back to Genkai's as quickly as he could. It was morning before he finally got back there and he burst through to door to find the whole gang there.

Yuske stood up, "What's up Hiei?"

Hiei looked at him with cold eyes.

"Kiren's been taken."

* * *

_And there is chapter 11 for anyone that's reading :) I'm sorry that this took so long to come out. I'm going to try and get better about updating. I need to stop getting sidetracked by other stories XD lol Anyway, I hope that it was a good read and I'm hoping for some reviews! please? T_T Oh, and I'm sorry if there's any spelling mistakes, it's really late...well...early if you think about it XD lol and I'm just too tired to read back through what I wrote XD lol _


	12. Chapter 12

_As promised, here is chapter 12! Another all nighter for me but I hope that it's worth it! Hope it's a good read and I'm hoping for more reviews from others other than Skyla. I loves my reviews I get from but it would be nice to get others! They are great motivation! If not, oh well. I'll keep writing anyway :) Hope you enjoy if you are reading this! :)_

* * *

Yuske's eyes hardened, "What do you mean 'taken'?"

Hiei glared at him, "Just as it sounds you ignorant fool. Kiren's been taken."

Yukina stood up, "By whom?"

Hiei shook his head, "I'm not sure. He never did grace me with his name."

Kurama looked Hiei in the eyes, "What happened?"

Hiei looked that other way, "After I finally had caught up with her, she was unconscious and being taken through a portal."

Yuske gave Hiei a questioning look, "'Caught up with her'? What happened to make her run in the first place?"

Kurama shared Yuske's look, "Yes Hiei, what did happen to make her run?"

He glared daggers at both of them, "That doesn't matter right now you fools! We're wasting time. We need to leave and find her immediately!"

Kuwabara scratched his head, "Why the hurry Hiei? I mean, I know we gotta get her back but I mean, we don't even know where she is or anything."

Kurama put his finger to his lips in his thinking mode and thought for a moment before turning to Hiei, "What has Kiren told you Hiei?"

Hiei closed his eyes, "It's not my place to tell. I can only say that we need to find her quickly."

Kurama nodded, deciding to interrogate Hiei later, "Alright then, how do we go about finding her then?"

He looked up at Kurama, "From what I could feel from the portal, I would say that it was a portal to Demon World. We'll start there and I'll try to find her with my Jagan once we get there."

Kurama nodded and looked over at Yuske, "Yuske, do you still have the communication mirror to get a hold of Koenma?"

He nodded and dug in his pocket for the communicator. He brought it out and opened it, waiting for Koenma to answer.

"The almighty Koenma speaking."

"Hey pacifier breath. We need a portal to Demon World pronto. Could you help us out?"

Koenma got an irritated look on his face, "How many times do I have to tell you not to call me such things you brat! Now, what do you need a portal for?"

Yuske got a worried look on his face, "Kiren's been taken and we're assuming that's where she was taken to."

"Taken? What the hell happened?"

Hiei took the mirror from Yuske, "No time to explain. Portal. Now."

Koenma cringed away from the screen at the look on Hiei's face.

"Yeah, I'll send one right now."

Hiei snapped the mirror shut and right after a portal showed up and the boys all jumped through leaving the girls behind with worried faces.

Botan almost started crying, "Oh, I hope she's going to be ok."

Keiko gave her the best reassuring smile she could manage, "I'm sure the boys will bring her back. They always get the job done."

She nodded and hugged Keiko tightly, hoping everything would go ok.

* * *

The boys landed in a forest area somewhere in Makai. Kurama felt around the area to see if there were any demons nearby. Once he was sure that they were alone, he turned to Hiei.

"Hiei, can you sense her anywhere?"

He closed his eyes and opened his third, looking around for her. After a while he opened his eyes and shook his head.

"Not from here. This is going to be a wild goose chase. I have no idea where he could have taken her."

Kurama sighed, "Yes, not knowing anything about her exact location will make this quite difficult."

Yuske hung his head, "Great, it's like looking for a needle in a haystack. How are we supposed to get any clues?"

Kurama looked in his direction, "It's basically going to be hit and misses. All we can do is travel until we find her."

He sighed, "Great, hiking, my favorite."

"Suck it up detective. We cannot waste time whining. Let's get moving," snapped Hiei.

He started walking in a direction leaving the other three staring after him with slightly wide eyes.

Kuwabara turned his attention to Kurama, "What's got him in such a bad mood? I figured he'd be the one to be lazy and not care about what we're doing."

Kurama turned towards him, "Yes, that would normally be the case. But I have a feeling that Hiei's feeling guilty. When Kiren left the house, she sped down the stairs crying. I went up to her room to find Hiei with a shocked expression on his face. When I asked him what happened, he refused to tell me and went after her."

Kuwabara scratched his head, "I didn't think the shrimp ever felt any kind of emotion, let alone guilty."

Kurama smiled, "Yes, it does seem odd for him doesn't it? But, Hiei has been going through a tricky change since he met Yuske. And even more so since we've gotten Kiren added to our team. Anyway, let's press onward or Hiei really will leave us all behind."

The other two nodded and the three of them ran after Hiei.

_'Hold on Kiren, I'm coming.'_

* * *

Kiren slowly opened her eyes to see...pitch black. She rubbed her eyes and blinked a few times, trying to get her eyes adjusted to there being no light in the room. After a few minutes, she could finally start to make things out. She looked around to get a hint of her surroundings.

It was a very small space. The only thing that could fit in it was the bed that she was laying on. The walls were stone and looking around, she saw that the only other thing in her confinement was bars. There were no windows, hence it being so dark.

She tried sitting up but quickly laid back down with her hands immediately going up to her temples.

_'Talk about killer headache. Now, where am I and how did I get here?'_

She searched her memory for what happened.

_'Ok, I had that encounter with Hiei; I ran until I couldn't run anymore; and then what happened?'_

She racked her brain for a few minutes before it finally hit her, _'Oh, right. That creepy guy showed up and knocked me out. Great. That means I have absolutely zero idea of where I am.'_

She waited until her headache subsided to being tolerable and tried sitting up again. As she went to stand she was suddenly pulled back down to the bed. Her hands went up to her neck to find a spiked collar around her neck; and when she tried moving her legs, she found shackles on them tied to the wall underneath her bed.

She scowled, _'Great, I've been captured by assholes that are thorough.'_

After a while of her trying to figure out a way to get out of her restraints, she heard footsteps coming from somewhere. Soon, a light came across her cell, blinding her eyes that were accustomed to the dark.

That annoying high pitched laugh reached her ears, "So, I see that you're awake my dear. How are you feeling?"

She glared at him, completely ignoring his question. Instead she took into account the men that he had with them. By the way that they stood, she figured them to be body guards.

_'Why would a creepy guy like him need body guards? That's just weird.'_

As the silence continued, she looked at the creep that spoke to her. He was extremely short. He seemed to be shorter than even herself and Hiei. He was completely bald and wore really weird looking glasses. What concerned her was the lab coat that he was wearing.

He laughed again, "I see we're not in a talkative mood. Well, I shall soon fix that. Bring her to the lab."

The two men that he had with him nodded and unlocked her cell. As they entered that creep spoke again, "Oh, and by the way, don't try to escape unless you want your head to explode. I made that collar especially for you my dear."

She looked down at her collar and then glared at him, _'Great, he's thorough and smart. This does not bode well.'_

The men undid the shackles on her legs and then brought her hands behind her back and put shackles on them. They pushed her forward into the hall and they started walking. After multiple stairs, they finally reached a set of double doors.

The doors opened and her eyes grew wide. She now knew what he meant by 'lab'. As she looked around all she could see were sharp instruments and chains and straps and tables.

_'Oh no, I know exactly what those are for.'_

The short man pointed to one of the tables in the middle of the room and instructed his men to strap her down.

As she was being strapped to the table, the man walked over to one of the many tables of sharp objects. There were multiple kinds: knives of all shapes and sizes, scalpels, drills of multiple sizes, she thought she saw something along the lines of jumper cables and many other various things.

She started hyperventilating a little, _'This isn't a 'lab', this is a torture room. I am so screwed.'_

One of the guards spoke, "Genji sir, she's ready for you."

Genji turned towards his guards, "Thank you gentlemen that will be all. You can leave now."

They bowed and said "Sir" and then left the room.

He laughed as the door shut, "You are all mine now my dear. Now, can you take a guess at why I brought you here?"

Kiren shut her eyes as tight as she could trying to block everything out.

_'Hiei, guys, where are you?!"_

* * *

Kuwabara stopped for a moment. His lack of movement was noticed by everyone else. They stopped and turned towards him.

"What's up baka?" questioned Yuske.

"I just got a really bad feeling guys."

Yuske looked at him irritated, "Care to elaborate?"

"Remember that bad feeling I got back in Maze Castle when every one of those zombies were going after Keiko?"

Kurama nodded.

"Well, I just got that same feeling. I think something bad is about to happen to Kiren."

Yuske whirled towards Hiei, "Hiei, do you have anything on her yet."

He growled, "No. I'm not getting anything."

Kurama's eyes hardened, "Let's keep going. We have no time to waste."

They all nodded and sped off as fast as they could.

Hiei scowled, _'This is taking too long. I need a hint of where she's at.'_

Kurama went up to Hiei's side, "Any bright ideas on how to find her?"

"If I did, do you think we'd be running around all over the place trying to find her?" he snapped.

He nodded, "Of course. However, while we're searching, care to explain what happened?"

Hiei glared daggers at him, "You're not going to let this go are you?"

Kurama smirked, "No, I am not. I think I deserve an explanation considering Kiren getting taken was technically your fault."

Hiei stopped dead in his tracks and growled at him, "How dare you say that this is my fault you stupid fox!"

Kurama crossed his arms and glared at Hiei, "I only say what is true Hiei. If whatever happened between the two of you hadn't happened, she wouldn't have ran off and gotten kidnapped. So, what happened?"

Hiei looked the other way, "Long story short, she had asked why I even seemed to care about what happened to her. I didn't answer and tried avoiding the question but she insisted and I shouted out of irritation that it was because of Mazuki without thinking."

Kurama gave him a blank stare.

"Happy now fox? Can we get going before she gets hurt?"

He nodded, "Of course."

Yuske and Kuwabara finally caught up, "Why are we stopped? Did you get anything from Kiren?" asked Yuske breathlessy.

Hiei shook his head and continued onwards.

Yuske shrugged and they all continued on their way.

* * *

Genji chuckled at Kiren's attempts to get out of the straps, "You can stop trying to get out of those. I made these especially for you my dear. You can't use your powers or anything. Now, you know what I'm going to ask right?"

Kiren stopped struggling and glared at him, "Maybe I do, maybe I don't. Doesn't matter because you're not getting anything outta me!"

He busted out laughing, "That's what you say now, but I think I have my ways to make you talk."

As he was talking, he pushed the table of knives next to Kiren and grabbed one of the smaller ones.

She squeezed her eyes shit, _'Oh shit! Ok, Kiren, calm down. Block out all emotion. You can do this.'_

Genji chuckled as he examined his blade, "There's a reason I love these knives. You see, they're not ordinary knives. Each one is coated in a deadly poison, and then it has entered the flesh, it burns from the inside to create the most amazing pain out there."

Her eyes flew open as she stared at the knife that he was holding above her.

He got a sadistic grin on his face, "Now, why don't you tell me about that other personality you have in there."

Kiren gritted her teeth, "You can go to hell you freak!"

Genji's grin widened, "Not the right answer girl."

He stabbed the knife into Kiren's shoulder as deep as it would go. Kiren let out a blood curdling scream.

_'That really burns! It feels like I have a fire burning me from the inside out. I don't know how much of this I can take!'_

"Still not talking? Well, I have plenty of these to go around."

He picked up two more knives, each a tad bigger than the other. He stabbed one into her other shoulder and the other into the middle of her chest. She screamed at the top of her lungs. The pain was too much for her to handle.

_'HIEI!'_

* * *

Hiei stopped mid stride, _'Kiren?'_

_'Hiei, please help me! I can't take this kind of pain!'_

Kurama noticed Hiei's stop in movement, "Hiei? What's wrong?"

He didn't hear him.

_'Calm down Kiren. We're coming to help you but we need to know where you are.'_

She went to answer him but all that filled his head was her murderous screaming.

He started to growl, _'Kiren, hold on. I'm coming for you. Where are you?'_

The screaming stopped for a moment, _'I don't know. I was unconscious when he brought me here and I haven't seen any windows to indicate any type of surroundings. All I do know is that you need to get me out of here now!'_

_'Try to stay connected with me, I can find you easier this way.'_

His only response was more scream upon scream.

Yuske tapped Hiei on his shoulder, "What's up three eyes?"

Hiei shoved him off and opened his Jagan eye and tried tracing Kiren. He almost had her location but their connection was all of a sudden dropped.

He scoffed, "Dammit. I almost had it too."

Kurama stood in front of him, "Care to include the rest of us Hiei?"

Hiei turned towards him, "Kiren contacted me through telepathy."

Yuske got right in his face, "And?"

"That bastard that has her is going to die as soon as I find him."

Kuwabara looked at him irritated, "Stop beating around the bush shorty."

"Never mind. I almost had her location but the connection got lost before I could pinpoint it. I have a general idea however. Let's go."

Hiei sped off towards the north as fast as he could.

Kurama looked at the other two, "Come on."

They leapt after Hiei.

_'Kiren, if you can hear me, I need you to talk to me so I can locate you. Please.'_

He was full of emotions that he wasn't used to. He hadn't felt anything like this since his sister had been abducted. But it wasn't exactly the same. He knew that he didn't think of Kiren as a sister. So what were these feelings building up inside of him? The more he thought about it, the more it angered him. He tried pushing them aside and focused on locating her.

* * *

Kiren had lost her connection with Hiei as Genji stabbed more knives into her limbs. Her throat was becoming more and more raw with every scream that emitted from it.

Genji chuckled, "I will stop for a moment. I know I'm safe with the poison that is on these blades. Your body can handle much more than any normal human. I wonder why that is. Why don't you tell me about Mazuki dear?"

Kiren's breathing was unsteady, and she couldn't focus on anything else but the pain. She had heard Hiei saying that she had to continue talking to him, but the pain was blinding her senses.

After a few moments of no reply from her, he scowled, "Why won't you talk?"

He picked up one of his drills and pointed it just above her heart. He put a little bit of pressure on it. Kiren screamed again and her body arched upwards.

"You stupid bastard! Just let me go! I'm not telling you anything! You'll have to kill me first!"

He glared at her, "That can be arranged girl!"

He plunged the drill all the through just barely missing vital points. Blood filled her mouth, halting her scream and causing her to choke on it.

_'Hiei, I'm sorry.'_

* * *

After what seemed like hours of running, they boys finally came upon a small cottage in the middle of the forest. There was nothing around but trees and more trees. The cottage seemed normal enough, made out of wood logs and seemed like an old granny's place.

Yuske got a worried look on his face, "Um, Hiei, I can't sense any kind of energy here"

Hiei growled, "I said I had a general idea, not an exact location. So shut up and let me concentrate!"

As he opened his Jagan to start another search, he felt the connection with Kiren's mind again.

_'Hiei, I'm sorry.'_

His eyes got wide with worry.

_'Sorry about what Kiren?'_

_'I don't think I'm going to make it this time.'_

He fell to his knees as he desperately searched for her.

_'Don't say such a thing! I'm close to you, I know I am! Just hold on for me ok?'_

There was a soft chuckle in his head.

_'I'm trying Hiei. I don't know how much longer I can last though. The knives that he's been using have poison on them and I'm not quite sure how many he has put in me. It won't be long.'_

He growled in annoyance at not being able to find her.

_'Just keep talking to me. I've almost got where you are.'_

_'I have a question for you, Hiei.'_

_'Yes?'_

_'Is it really true that the only reason you care is because of Mazuki?'_

The question caught him off guard. Just as he had that morning, he was filled an emotion that he wasn't familiar with. It frustrated him that he didn't know what it was, but he knew now that the answer wasn't Mazuki anymore. Silence stayed amongst them for a while.

_'Hiei?'_

After a few more seconds he finally answered in a soft voice.

_'No. That's not the only reason. Mazuki isn't even really a reason for me anymore. I'm not sure what the reason is. I still need time to figure it out.'_

He felt her smile in his head.

_'Thank you Hiei. I can die happy now.'_

_'No! You're not going to die! I'm going to save you!'_

He finally pinpointed her location.

He looked over at the others, "Below us. There's an underground facility underneath the ground. Let's hurry. We're running out of time!"

The gang nodded and headed towards the cabin, time not on their side.

* * *

_As promised here is chapter 12! :) I'm hoping you guys enjoyed the read! Please leave reviews? If not, oh well, I'll live. See ya next time! I'll try to get chapter 13 out as fast as I can. Reviews will prolly help it come out faster XD lol J/K. Just depends on how work is this week :) _


	13. Chapter 13

_Sry for the wait! Work has been crazy. We have something new going on and it's just making everything hectic that all I wanna do is sleep lol I know it's a lame excuse but that is what I have XD lol Anyway, don't wanna keep you guys waiting in suspense so here is chapter 13! Please R&R?_

* * *

****Kiren's POV****

I opened my eyes and I blinked a few times as I took in my surroundings. I was standing in a park from my old hometown with Riku.

_'Wasn't I just with crazy man about to die?'_

I thought about it for a moment and then it hit me; I had fallen unconscious.

_'Well, atleast I'm not feeling pain anymore. But where the hell am I? Why am I in this park?'_

As I was looking around I noticed two little girls running into the park. Once I finally got a good look at them I gasped.

_'No way...but that's...'_

They didn't have to get close to me for me to able to describe them. They looked like twins with matching hair color and eyes of silver. They were laughing and pushing each other around.

The shorter one of the two fell on the ground face first. The other bent down, "Kiren! Are you ok?"

I watched my younger self look up and smile, "Of course Riku! Come on let's go before _they _get here!"

Riku nodded and they ran off into the forest.

Tears filled my eyes as I watched them go.

"Why...why am I in my past?"

Suddenly a voice popped in my head, "Yes, you were really adorable weren't you?"

The cackling laugh gave it away and I cringed, "What the hell is going on Genji?!"

His laughing continued, "I wanted to try an experiment."

I growled at him. What the hell could he possibly be thinking?

"What kind of experiment?"

I could hear the smirk in his voice, "If you die in your memory, do you die in real life?"

My eyes went wide and my feet took control after myself and my sister. As I was running after them my mind went wild.

_'What can he do with my memories? I've never heard of anything like this. Hiei and the others need to hurry up.'_

After a while, I didn't need to see them to know where they were going. This was the day where my other side first showed herself. As I got closer to the clearing that I knew we were in, I heard many howls and clanging of weapons.

I decided to hide myself in a tree to watch to see what Genji could possibly do in my memory. It seemed like forever before everything was finally over and Riku was checking on me after my blackout.

Genji's voice entered the area again, "You two were really close weren't you?"

I bit the inside of my cheek ignoring him. _'What is he thinking?'_

His annoying chuckle filled my ears, "Ignoring me isn't going to change anything my dear. The only thing that will is what you know about Mazuki."

I glared upwards, "And what exactly are you going to do?"

"Ever gotten into a serious fight with your sister?"

The fight that happened at Raido's came to mind. I pushed it aside and focused on myself and Riku.

"What about it?"

His chuckles were starting to irritate me, "Let's see what happens when I tweak your sister's powers at the moment and send her into a fit of rage."

I started to panic, "How is that even possible?! We're in my mind and these are my memories that cannot be altered!"

"I've developed a new power that I've been working on. It allows me to enter memories and change them to my will. Now, will you speak or am I changing your memories?"

I was at a standstill and I didn't know what to do. What could I do? I'm sworn to secrecy and I highly doubt she'll come out on her own.

"Silence will not help you my dear."

_'Dammit! What the hell am I supposed to do?!'_

I looked over at Riku to see her immobilized and my younger self freaking out asking if she was ok. The only thing that came to mind was Hiei and hoping he would get to me before anything happened here.

_'Hiei, please hurry.'_

* * *

"Hey Hiei, any time these damn tunnels are gonna disappear? I'm getting tired of the same scenery!" snapped Yuske.

Hiei growled at him, "Shut up and keep running!"

Kuwabara looked around constantly, "Um, shouldn't there be like traps or something?"

Kurama looked over at him, "One would think, but let's be thankful that there haven't been any as of yet."

Yuske smirked, "Naw, we're just that good."

Hiei scowled, "Shut up detective."

He glared at Hiei, "I know you're worried, but you don't have to be a jackass."

"Hn."

Kurama smiled to himself and looked ahead, "I believe I see an opening up ahead."

They picked up the pace and entered a four-way. Kurama's face grimmed.

"Well, this poses a problem. Hiei, what do you suggest? Any inkling on which way she is?"

Hiei looked down each way and then shook his head, "No. I get nothing."

_'Hiei, please hurry.'_

He perked his head up, _'Kiren! What's going on?'_

_'This creep is in my memories and drug me with him. He says he has obtained a new power to allow him to alter them and he wants to find out what would happen if he killed me in my memories. I don't know what to do!'_

_'We're almost there! Don't worry! Do you remember anything about the layout of this place?'_

_'Where are you?'_

_'We're at a four-way. Do you know which way to go?'_

_'I'm not for certain. I was brought from a cell somewhere in this crazy place. Can you try locking onto me with your Jagan?'_

_'I can try. Don't let go of this connection.'_

_'I'll try.'_

Hiei closed his eyes and opened his third, looking desperately for her. He began to slowly see a room filled with instruments. As he concentrated harder, he saw a table in the middle of the room. Focusing on that, Kiren came into view and he gave a low growl at what he saw. Kiren strapped down with multiple sharp objects stabbed into her. There was blood everywhere. He looked at her for a second longer before following the maze to where they were at.

His eyes snapped open and he darted to the right.

The rest hurried after him, no one needing to ask Hiei what was up. They all knew he had gotten a lock on Kiren's location.

_'Hold on Kiren, I'm on my way.'_

* * *

****Back to Kiren's POV****

I smiled when Hiei said that he was on his way. I knew then that he had found my location.

Genji's voice darkened, "And just what are you smiling about?"

I smirked, "Your little party is about to be interrupted."

"By whom?"

"Everyone is almost here. Hiei has figured out where I am and is on his way here. You're about to be slaughtered."

He busted out laughing.

"What exactly is so funny?"

"Too bad they're going to be too late. My little scene is unfolding."

I quickly turned back to the clearing. I was dodging away from Riku. It reminded me a lot of the last fight I had with Riku. I couldn't attack her. I didn't know if I could do anything, but I couldn't just sit back and watch this.

I hopped out of the tree and ran towards them. Just as Riku was about to stab me, I got in the middle. I cringed in pain as Riku's blade hit my side. I heard little me gasp as Riku pulled back and stared.

Genji growled, "What do you think you're doing?"

Ignoring him I looked down at Riku, "Don't do this Riku! This isn't like you!"

Little Kiren looked up at me, "Who are you and how do you know us?"

I looked back at her and smiled, "Let's just say we're one in the same."

Riku recovered and charged at me. I picked up little Kiren and started running towards the playground.

_'I'm not quite sure what I can do, but atleast I can keep little me out of danger.'_

Genji growled, "Well, I see this isn't going to work."

All of a sudden the scenery changed and I was in a completely different clearing.

I blinked a few times, "Where am I now? This has to be a place out of my memories so I should know where I am."

I turned around as I heard something stirring behind me. I smiled when I saw that it was Hiei.

"Hiei! You found me!"

He didn't say anything. Instead he drew his katana and charged towards me. I acted on reflex and had a sword in my hand parring with Hiei's katana.

"Hiei! What's wrong with you?"

I heard Genji's voice from somewhere, "I saw that trying to take care of your little self wasn't going to do anything so I decided to see how you do against someone you care deeply about."

I gasped, "What exactly are you talking about?"

He chuckled, "You can't deny it forever. I know what you feel for this little fire demon. So, knowing what you feel for him, can you handle him trying to kill you? He is far more superior than you."

I growled, _'Well this is just great. Now what the hell am I supposed to do? His version of Hiei won't hesitate to kill me and I know I'm no match for him in my present state. Come on Hiei, you can get me out of this anytime now.'_

"You know sweetheart, you could save yourself all this trouble and just tell me about Mazuki."

I rolled my eyes. I had no intention of talking about her. I had to focus on not getting killed. Focusing back on Hiei I noticed a fireball in his free hand. My eyes widened and I quickly jumped away from him. He threw it at me and I just barely managed to dodge. With dodging it though, I lost my sight on Hiei. Suddenly there was a sharp pain in my left arm. I looked at it to see his sword slicing down it.

I swung my sword at him making him back off. I fell to my knees clutching my arm.

"Damn, that really hurts."

_'Atleast it wasn't my dominant arm. Then I really would be in a jam. I need to find a way out of this.'_

Genji smiled, "Now this is entertaining."

I growled, "Bastard."

I didn't have time to be angry at him though. Hiei wasn't exactly one to let his enemies take a rest. He swung his sword down at me. I brought my sword up just in time to block. I barely managed to push him off and jump outta the way of his kick that more than likely would've taken my head off.

I jumped into a tree hoping to gain some time to recuperate. That didn't work very well though. As soon as I landed I had to jump again as a fire ball came hurtling at me. I jumped into another tree as the one that I was sitting caught ablaze.

_'I'm not going to be able to keep this up much longer. I'm losing way too much blood and I think the poison is slowing me down. How do I get outta this?'_

While Genji was enjoying the show, something pricked his interest outside in the real world.

He glowered and turned back to the fight, "I have to say that our time here is done. I'd rather not be beheaded. Take care."

Before I could ask anything, everything went black and I was lost in a world of darkness.

* * *

Hiei busted through the doors and ran over to Kiren. There was no sign of anyone else but that didn't matter to him.

He turned to Yuske, "Hurry up and get a portal here. She doesn't have much time."

Yuske nodded and brought out his communicator. As Yuske was talking to Koenma Hiei looked Kiren over to assess the damage. He quickly took out the knives and the drill. He undid the straps and cradled her in his arms. Right on cue the portal appeared and everyone hopped through. As they arrived in Koenma's office Kiren was immediately taken from him and rushed off to the hospital wing.

Koenma addressed the group, "I'm glad to see you made it. Anything about the man that took her?"

They shook their heads and Kurama answered, "We were more concerned about Kiren and didn't give chase. He had left before we made it to the room that he had her in."

Koenma thought deeply, "That means that there is a chance that he'll make another attempt at her. We'll have to keep a close eye on her."

Yuske punched his fists together, "No worries here! We'll make mince-meat out of anyone that tries anything."

Kurama smiled, "Yes, but I think that we have someone else who will be keeping a close eye on her."

Kuwabara looked around the room, "Hey, where'd shorty go?"

Yuske slapped him in the back of the head, "Come on Kuwabaka, use that small brain of yours. Imagine if this would've been Yukina and she was taken to the emergency room? Where would you be?"

"Well duh Urameshi, I'd be with her."

A light dinged in his head, "Oh, so that means that shorty's with Kiren."

Kurama nodded, "I'm pretty sure that's where he's gone. He won't leave her side after this incident."

Yuske jerked his hand towards the door, "How about we go join him?"

They nodded and they all went towards where Kiren was at. They arrived at the waiting room to find Hiei leaning up against the wall by the doors to the operating room. He looked up as the others approached.

Kurama nodded towards the doors, "Any news yet?"

Hiei shook his head, "No. And they won't let me in either."

Kurama took a seat on one of the benches, "Then I guess all we can do is wait."

Hiei closed his eyes, _'Please be ok.'_

Hours went by while they waited. Kuwabara and Yuske ended up falling asleep on the floor. Kurama looked over at Hiei.

"How are you holding up?"

Hiei stole a glance at the fox, "What are you talking about?"

He smiled, "Well obviously you're worried about her. I'm sure you're not liking the wait very well."

"Hn."

Hiei looked at the doors. Yes, the waiting was killing him. He wanted to know if she was alright. He didn't like the feeling he had gotten when he had almost lost her. He didn't want to know what it would feel like if he found out that she didn't make it out of this.

He was still trying to figure out this feeling that kept showing itself. He knew he respected her. And he felt some sort of connection to her as they had similar pasts. When she was in danger, he was scared. Scared of losing her. But he couldn't figure out why. He was somewhat familiar with this feeling when his sister was taken by Tarukane; and at the Dark Tournament when a part of the ceiling almost fell on her. But he knew Kiren wasn't like a sister to him.

_'What is this feeling?'_

Not being able to figure it out was annoying him to no end. He wanted to ask the fox about it but at the same time he didn't want to let known that he was having some sort of weird feelings towards Kiren. He had a reputation to uphold. He didn't care about anyone. He wanted to ignore this feeling that he was getting, but it was getting to the point that he couldn't.

He growled at himself. Kurama smiled at Hiei's growl, _'Why can't you just admit that you like her Hiei? Is that so wrong? Though I do have to say that I am jealous. I have grown to like her as well. If you don't take action soon Hiei, I will steal her from you.'_

Hiei looked over at Kurama, "What are you staring at fox?"

Kurama chuckled, "Nothing."

Suddenly the doors opened up and one of the doctors came out. Kurama and Hiei quickly rushed over to him. The doctor looked at them with a grim look.

"What's the verdict?" asked Kurama.

The doctor took in a deep breath, "Well, she's stabilized. There's no danger of the poison. We just barely got to her in time. Any longer and she would've been beyond our care. Everything else I would say is up to her. We're moving her to the recovery room now. You may see her there."

They nodded and went to wake up the other two. After they woke them up, they all headed to the recovery rooms. They were directed to where Kiren was and they surrounded her bed. Looking at her, it just seemed like she was in a deep sleep.

"She looks like a mummy with all those bandages," commented Kuwabara.

Yuske crossed his arms, "Yeah, that bastard really did a number on her."

Hiei gave a deep growl, "That bastard better hope I never find him. He won't die quickly. It will be long and painful."

Yuske smirked, "You bet."

The gang stayed for a couple of hours before everyone decided that it was time to go. Everyone but Hiei left. He brought up a chair and sat right next to Kiren. He looked at her with soft eyes.

"I'm sorry Kiren. None of this would've happened if I wouldn't have been a stubborn fool. I'm not sure what's going on with me but I will never make the same mistake again."

He leaned back in the chair, crossing his arms and closing his eyes eventually falling asleep.

He was awakened hours later by being shaken by Kurama, "Hiei?"

"What do you want fox?"

Kurama smiled, "Just checking on you. Any news on Kiren?"

He shook his head, "It's prolly going to be a while before she wakes up. That was quite a lot for her to go through."

Kurama nodded, "Very true. Do you want me to get you anything to eat or drink?"

Hiei shook his head and Kurama left, giving him some space.

He ran into Koenma on his way out.

"Kurama, how's Kiren?"

He shook his head, "No change. But then again, I would be surprised if she was already awake by now. It's only been one night. I suspect she'll be asleep for a few days recovering."

Koenma nodded, "True."

Kurama smiled, "I'm sure we'll know when there's a change. I highly doubt Hiei will be leaving her side anytime soon."

Koenma chuckled, "It does seem like that doesn't it."

He nodded, "Any word yet on the demon that took her?"

Koenma's turn to shake his head, "No, this demon really knows how to cover his trails. I had all my best men go to the place she was at and they're turning up nothing."

Kurama sighed, "I guess now all we can do is wait for Kiren to wake up to found out who he is."

"Yes, that does seem to be the case."

Kurama continued on his way lost in his thoughts_, 'Question now is, how long do we have to wait?'_

* * *

_And there it is folks! Chapter 13! :) I wanted to give a try at 1st person writing so please excuse being in Kiren's POV for most of the chapter. Hopefully it was too awful :) Anyway, what do you guys think? I'm hoping for some reviews! :) I'm thinking about starting chapter 14 sometime today...I do kinda need to sleep though XD I need to get out of the habit of pulling all nighters to write these XD lol anyway, hope it was a good read :) reviews please? :)_


	14. Chapter 14

_I'm soooo sry about the lateness of this chapter. I was kind of having writer's block. I sort of had an idea of what I was gonna do and then I sort of didn't XD lol and I was hoping that I would get a few more reviews but oh well...those of you that are reading and not reviewing, be thankful for Skyla15699 and BlueWingedAngelReAnne. If it weren't for those two, I really wouldn't have any motivation to continue writing. Anyway, sry for the delay, and I hope you all enjoy and I'm REALLY hoping for some more reviews! Thank you and here it is folks! Chapter 14!_

* * *

Kurama walked down the hallway to the room that Kiren was in deep in thought.

_'How long has it been now since we brought Kiren back here? I think it's been almost a month now. I'm starting to wonder if there's something wrong with her.'_

He stopped at Kiren's door and went in, smiling when he saw Hiei still sitting at her bedside.

He walked up beside him, "Any changes, Hiei?"

"Hn, what do you think fox?"

Kurama's smile faded, "Have you thought of the possibility that there's something wrong with her?"

Hiei glanced up at him, "I have. I remembered that one of the last things she said to me was the Genji was in her memories trying to kill her. I thought maybe that meant that she was trapped in her mind."

Kurama nodded, "Can you get inside her mind?"

He shook his head, "No. Not that I know of anyway. Every single time that I try, all I get is darkness. It doesn't even feel like I'm in her mind."

Kurama put his hand to his chin and searched his brain for an answer.

"Why don't you take a break Hiei and go stretch your legs. I'll keep an eye on her."

He glared a little, "Why should I go and do that?"

Kurama smiled, "You've barely left this room for the past month. Maybe getting outside will clear your head a bit. Maybe you'll think of something to help her."

Hiei fidgeted a little in the chair before silently getting up and walking out of the room. Kurama took his place in the chair and looked at Kiren. He sighed and brushed her bangs out of her face.

"What's wrong with you Kiren? You should've woken up by now."

* * *

Hiei came back a few hours later and sat on the windowsill.

"Any thoughts while you were out?"

He shook his head, "We're just going to have to wait until she wakes up on her own."

Kurama sighed and closed his eyes, getting comfortable in the chair. Nightfall soon came upon them. Kurama stood up to leave but soon stopped as he looked at Kiren.

Hiei looked over at him, "What's up?"

He looked over at him with a smile, "Her eyes are moving underneath her eye lids. She should wake up soon."

Hiei got off the sill and went next to her on the other side of the bed. He let a little smile loose when he confirmed what Kurama had said. He went over to the door and turned towards Kurama.

"I'll go and tell everyone else."

Kurama nodded and looked back at Kiren. _'Bout time you woke up. Everyone's been really worried about you.'_

He sat back down on the chair crossing his arms, awaiting Kiren's eyes to open. It felt like hours of waiting but then he saw her eyes slowly open. Sterling silver looked around, taking in the surroundings. She slowly sat up and looked over at Kurama blinking.

He got a big smile on his face, "Kiren! You've finally woken up!"

She tilted her head to the side, "Who's Kiren? Is that my name? And who might you be?"

His eyes widened a little, his smile fading, "What are you saying Kiren? It's me, Kurama."

She thought hard for a moment, "I feel like I should know you. Everything's hazy."

Kurama's eyes glazed over a bit as he heard Hiei running back to the room. Kiren looked over at the door when it opened.

Hiei smirked when he saw that she was awake, "I see you've finally decided to wake up."

She gave a shaky smile, "I guess you know me too huh?"

He slowly looked over at Kurama, "What did she just say?"

Kurama avoided his gaze, "It seems she has amnesia. Do you think it's because of what Genji did?"

He just nodded his head and went over to sit on the window sill looking outside. Yuske and Kuwabara busted into the room with goofy grins. Yuske jumped onto her bed and gave her a bear hug.

"There's our favorite girl! Bout damn time! We've been worried sick about you!"

Kiren punched him in the face and jumped off of the bed. She pushed herself against the wall.

Yuske looked at her with a confused face, "You ok Kiren?"

Her eyes narrowed a little, "Who are you and why do you think you can touch me like that?"

He raised his eyebrow and looked at Kurama, "Did she hit her head or something?"

Kurama shook his head, "No, but you have the right idea for effect. It seems she has amnesia. Why don't we let her rest and come back later."

Yuske scratched his head and nodded, getting up off of the bed. He and Kuwabara left the room with sad looks. Kurama got up and looked at Hiei. He shook his head and nodded at Kiren before leaving himself.

Kiren sat back down on the bed and looked over at Hiei, "What are you still doing in here? Why didn't you leave with the others?"

"I don't do everything they do. And I certainly don't follow them wherever they go."

"That doesn't answer what you're still doing in here."

He looked over at her, "Well, since it seems you can't remember anything at the moment, someone has to look after you. I definitely don't trust the two numbskulls to do it. Kurama would but he had to go home. So that just leaves me."

She searched his face as he spoke. Multiple different emotions came across his face, but went blank as soon as he finished speaking.

"I take it we were close weren't we?"

He smirked, "How do you deduce that?"

She smiled, "Your facial expressions. When you said each of their names, a different emotion crossed your face. It was either annoyance or respect. But when you looked at me, there was a softness that touched your eyes for just a moment."

He smiled, "Quite the eye there."

He looked back out the window, "Yes."

She tilted her head in confusion, "Yes?"

"Yes, we were close. But then again, you were close with everyone that was just in here."

She got up and went to sit with him on the window sill, "How did we meet?"

He took a slide glance at her, "You moved into Yuske's area and started school with him. He thought you were a demon so he asked Kurama and me to give our own opinions. Afterwards, we went and told Koenma about you and he wanted to meet you. We've been doing missions for him together ever since."

She looked out the window, "Am I a demon?"

"I haven't been able to decide that yet. At present, I'm leaning towards that you're a half demon like Yuske."

"Half Demon?"

He nodded, "As it states. Half demon, half human."

She nodded, "Makes sense."

"You should get some sleep."

She yawned, "Alright."

She went back over to the bed and layed down, passing out immediately. Hiei looked over at her sleeping form with a sad look.

_'Well, she's woken up. Now we just have to figure out if her amnesia is permanent or temporary.'_

He closed his eyes and fell asleep as well.

* * *

Kurama came back in the midmorning to see how everything was going. Hiei left without a word. Kurama gave a sympathetic look towards the door and then turned to Kiren with a smile.

"Good morning. How did you sleep?"

She smiled back at him, _'He's so kind. And he's really good looking too.'_

"I slept well thank you. Yourself?"

He sat down on the chair, "Same here. Have you remembered anything yet?"

She shook her head, "No, everything is still in a fog. I mean, I know that I know you guys, but that's just a feeling I have."

He nodded, "Well, how about we go back to Genkai's and take a walk. Maybe the scenery will trigger something."

"Genkai?"

"She's your mentor and you're staying with her."

"Oh. Well, sure, why not?"

Kurama left the room to let her get dressed. A couple of minutes later, she joined him in the hall. They walked to Koenma's office and got a portal back to Genkai's. Kiren looked at the temple in awe.

"That's a really big temple."

He smiled, "That it is. Want to go inside or do you want to go for a walk?"

She smiled back at him, "I'd like to go for a walk."

They started walking towards the forest. Kurama was hoping that if he took her there and maybe down by the river she always went to, that it might help her in remembering something.

As they started walking Kiren looked over at Kurama, "I have a question for you."

He smiled, "Hmm?"

"Hiei said that I was close to everyone in the group. But I was curious if I was extremely close to anyone?"

He giggled, "Are you meaning to ask if you were dating any of us?"

She blushed and looked down at her feet, "Ummm, yeah, that's what I'm meaning to ask."

_'She's so adorable, blushing like that. This may be my chance to get close to her. Or atleast get Hiei in gear to admit his feelings to her.'_

"Well, I wouldn't say that you were dating anyone, but there are a couple of us who have our eye on you."

She put her hands on her cheeks, "Wait, what?!"

Kurama busted out in a full laugh, "I'm just kidding." _'Not really, but oh well.'_

She heaved out a sigh of relief, "Don't scare me like that."

He laughed, "What's wrong with the idea of someone liking you?"

She glared at him, "There's nothing to like."

He raised his eyebrow, "Now how do you know that?"

She shrugged, "I don't remember anything about you guys, but I do remember growing up a little bit. I remember having a best friend, what happened to her I have no idea. But I catch glimpses of stuff from the past, there's nothing too special about me."

He laughed, "You may think that there's nothing to like about you, but not everybody likes the same things. If we did, this world would be quite boring. What someone may consider ugly and boring, another person may see as beautiful and fun."

She put her hand on her chin, "True. That is an interesting way to think about it."

She looked at Kurama to find him looking at her. She blushed and quickly looked away, "Why are you looking at me like that?"

He shook his head with a smile, "I'm just not used to you being this talkative."

She raised her eyebrow, "Don't tell me I'm normally the silent type."

He chuckled, "Secretive is the correct term to use."

She looked forward, "Hmmm, odd. I'm very sorry about that."

Kurama gave a reassuring smile, "No need, trust me. It just made you that more interesting to be around. I like to play guessing games."

She laughed. They continued walking until they got to the river. As she looked at the river an image of her leaning on Hiei crying flashed through her head. She also saw hersefl sitting there alone crying. Her eyes glazed over a little as she looked over at Kurama.

Kurama noticed the look she had and his eyes softened, "What's wrong?"

"I'm not exactly the happiest of person to be around am I?"

He tilted his head a little, "What do you mean?"

She averted from his gaze, "I just saw two scenes looking at this river. In both of them I was crying. What kind of missions do we go on?"

Kurama looked out at the river, "Lately, the missions that we have been going on all seem to relate to you somehow. It's like there's someone in Demon World pulling strings to put us on missions that correspond to something that happened to you in the past. The outcomes weren't always the greatest. And this isn't the first time you've ended up in the hospital."

She joined him in looking at the river, "Do I dare ask what happened on these missions?"

He sighed, "Well, I could tell you, but I don't want to damper the day even further. We'll just wait until your memory comes back."

She sat down by the edge cross-legged, "What if I don't remember everything?"

He joined her in sitting down, "I'm sure that you will. It'll just take time."

They sat like this for a couple of hours chatting away until Kiren's stomach let out a loud and long growl.

Her face turned as red as a tomato, "I guess my stomach is trying to tell me something."

Kurama laughed, "I guess so. How about we go back to my place and I cook you some dinner."

She looked over at him surprised, "You don't have to do that!"

He smiled, "I insist."

They got up and started their trek to town.

_'Wow, a really hot guy that says he can cook?! This is every girls dream!"_

It took them a while but they finally made it to Kurama's house. Before entering he turned towards her with a sheepish grin.

"Fair warning, my mother can be a little enthusiastic. I can almost guarantee you that she'll assume you're my girlfriend or something of the sort."

A little blush came to her face, "Oh. Ok. Thanks for the warning."

They entered the house and a woman appeared from a doorway.

"Ah, Shuichi, you're home. Oh, and I see you brought a friend. Who's this dear?"

Kurama smiled a sweet smile, "Hello mother. This is Kiren. She's a friend I met through Yuske. You remember him don't you?"

She gave such a sweet smile back that Kiren couldn't help smiling herself, "Ah, yes, I remember you mentioning him. Hello Kiren, it's a pleasure to meet you."

Kiren bowed, "Thank you, it is a pleasure to meet you as well ma'am."

She chuckled, "Oh please, call me Shiori."

Kiren rose and gave her a smile, "Ok Shiori."

Shiori looked over at Kurama, "What is the pleasure of having Kiren over dear?"

"I asked her over for dinner. You haven't made anything yet, have you mother?"

Shiori looked back and forth between Kiren and Kurama for a moment before a really bright smile appeared on her face.

"Awe, Shuichi, did you finally bring home a girlfriend?"

Kurama quickly put his hands up, "No, mother, she's just a friend."

She chuckled, "Ok, but you two do look like a really cute couple. And no, I haven't made anything for dinner yet. I was just trying to decide what to have for dinner. Are you going to be making dinner Shuichi?"

Kiren looked at the floor blushing madly at Shiori's comment as Kurama nodded, "Yes, mother. Anything in particular that you want?"

She shook her head, "No dear, you make whatever you want."

He smiled and headed towards the kitchen with Kiren at his heels. Once they were in the kitchen and out of ear shot of Shiori, Kiren went over to Kurama and whispered in his ear.

"Why is she calling you Shuichi instead of Kurama?"

He leaned closer to her hear, "I will explain later, just please call me Shuichi while we are here."

She nodded as she watched Kurama move about the kitchen like he was professional chef.

_'She just had to make the comment that we would make a cute couple. Hmmm, I wonder if I'll ever get that close to Shuichi.'_

As he was cooking, they kept up conversation of Kurama growing up. Time passed quickly as they were talking and soon the food was ready. Everyone sat at the table as Kurama served the food. Kiren almost started drooling it looked so delicious. He had made kare raisu(curry rice) and rice balls with some sushi on the side. As they ate everyone talked vibrantly about random things. After they were finished eating, Kiren helped him clean up and did the dishes. Kurama insisted on walking her back to Genkai's so they bid their farewell to his mother and went on their way. After a little bit of walking Kiren broke the comfortable silence.

"Ok, can you explain the whole Shuichi thing to me now?"

He smiled, "Ah, yes, I suppose that's been eating at you hasn't it?"

She gave back a smile of her own and nodded, "Yes, I'm extremely curious."

He giggled, "Shuichi is my human name. Kurama is my demon name. I was originally a demon fox many years ago. I was known as the King of Thieves. On one of my hunts, however, I got severely injured and fled to human world and replaced the soul of the child that Shiori was going to give birth to. I had originally planned on just staying here until I had gained enough of my demon energy back so that I could leave."

Kiren was engrossed into the story, "What happened?"

He gave a genuine smile that took her breath away, "I came to love her as a mother. I became very attached to her and my human life. She's the reason I even met Yuske."

She giggled, "That's so cute! Your mother is such a sweetheart. You got really lucky Kurama."

"Thank you."

Kurama informed her of all that happened after he met Yuske and soon enough they were back at Genkai's. She turned towards him and smiled.

"Thank you for such a wonderful day. And the food you cooked was amazing! Can we hang out again tomorrow?"

He nodded, "Of course. Have a good night."

"You too, thanks."

He grabbed her hand and gave the back of it a light kiss before turning and leaving. She stood there blushing as she watched him walk back down the many steps that led to Genkai's place.

After he was out of her sight, she turned and walked into the temple. Genkai greeted her and took her to her room. She fell asleep with the day that she just had on her mind.

As Kurama was walking back home, he was lost in his thoughts.

_'If she stays like this, I just might actually want to take her for myself. I shouldn't have said yes to hanging out tomorrow. If she knew what he meant to her and what she meant to him, I wouldn't even stand a chance. But I suppose I'm better company at the moment than Hiei while we wait for her memories to come back. I guess I'll see how tomorrow goes. Maybe I'll take her to the clearing and see if maybe we can spark some memories with her practicing her attacks.'_

He made it home and went up to his room. He layed on his bed and stared at the ceiling, Kiren running through his mind.

* * *

_And there it is folks! Chapter 14! I hope you all like it! I'm thinking about working on chapter 15 here after some sleep. But that all depends on if a certain game that I recently got doesn't steal me away XD Anyway, I hoped you all enjoyed and I'm really hoping for some reviews! Thanks and see ya next time! ^_^_


	15. Chapter 15

_And here is chapter 15! I'm proud of myself that it wasn't too long for this update! Not much action yet but I promise that it will pick up soon. I think I know what my next mission is going to be. Anyway, enough of my rambling and please enjoy! Please R&R?_

* * *

Kiren rolled over and looked at the clock in her room. From what she could see from the little bit of moonlight, it was about three in the morning. She rolled onto her back and stared at the ceiling.

_'Kurama's really nice, but why do I get this retching feeling whenever he gets too close? It makes me feel like I'm doing something wrong. I have a feeling Kurama isn't telling me something.'_

She tried going back to sleep but all she did was roll around. After about an hour of trying, she finally gave up and decided to go outside. She wanted to go down by the river. The flashes of memory that she has seen made her a little scared, but at the same time, it made her feel so calm. She wanted to see if she could remember why.

When she reached it, she sat down on the edge and stared at the river.

_So, what really happened the last time you encountered Shoske?_

She gasped and quickly looked around, but she couldn't see anyone there.

"Where did that voice come from? Is it possible I'm hearing bits and pieces of a memory?"

_Bright one aren't you?_

She tried focusing on the memory. She could faintly see herself sitting by the river talking to someone but she couldn't see who it was.

"I feel sad about this memory, but at the same time I feel happy about it. Who was I sitting here with and why did that person make me feel so calm?"

Unbeknownst to her, an inquisitive fire koorime was watching from a nearby tree. He was fighting between staying in the tree and going down by her.

_'I know it's not her fault, but it bothers me being around her now. Her eyes and her calming presence aren't the same. It makes me uneasy now. Why is that? These feelings are a mystery to me and it keeps irritating me that I can't figure them out!'_

As he was arguing with himself in his head, he noticed that Kiren had started crying but she seemed surprised about it. Without any real thought, his instincts made him jump down next to her startling her.

"H-Hiei, what are you doing here?"

Instead of responding, he lifted his hand to her face and brushed away the tears.

She gasped and backed away from him with her hand on her cheek, "I-I'm sorry, I don't know what came over me."

_Ok, now tell me why you're really here. I know you wouldn't be here unless you had to be._

Her brows furrowed together as the memory flashed through her mind.

_How'd you know?_

_Any other time you were 'hanging' around you never left your tree. And I know that the only reason you were doing it in the first place was cuz the old hag asked you to. So, for you to actually be sitting here talking to me, probably means that there's another mission and they sent you to talk to me._

_'Who am I talking to?'_

_You're wondering what I'm thinking about and why you can't read my thoughts like you can with everyone else. You're still wondering how I know about Mazuki. I know that's the only reason you agreed to train me because you think that something will slip out about her. Otherwise, you would want nothing to do with me, does that about sum it up?_

As fresh tears graced her face she looked up at Hiei,_ 'I wonder who Mazuki is.'_

She stood up and wiped her eyes on her sleeve, "Sorry about this. I'll take my leave now."

She turned and started walking away. Hiei reached out his hand, wanting to stop her, but his hand fell to his side in silence. He watched her til he couldn't see her and turned to leave in the opposite direction.

Watching his retreating form was a saddened red headed fox.

_'Such conflicting emotions.'_

He shook his head and went his own way.

* * *

Kiren awoke to a knocking on her door. She sleepily got out of bed and opened the door. When she did, she smiled.

"Good morning Kurama."

He smiled, "Good morning. I'm sorry to have woken you."

She shook her head, "No, thank you. I need to get up anyway. Would you mind waiting for me downstairs? I shouldn't be too long."

"Of course."

She closed the door and went to her dresser. She picked out an outfit and went to her bathroom that was connected to her room. As she was standing underneath the water, her mind ran through the bits and pieces of memory that she had accumulated last night.

_'I wish I could remember who I was talking to. Maybe then I could remember more.'_

Not wanting to make Kurama wait too long, she hurried up and got out of the shower. She got dressed in a dark blue summer dress and looked at herself in the mirror. Since she had joined the gang, her hair had grown down to her shoulders. She brushed it out and put it into a high ponytail. She slipped on a pair of sandals and went downstairs to Kurama.

She found him in the kitchen staring out the window with a look of conflicting emotions running across his face.

"Kurama? Is everything alright?"

He looked up at her and quickly put on a bright smile, "Of course."

He looked at her and a warm expression came upon his face, "You look lovely today Kiren."

She blushed and turned away from him, "T-thank you."

He chuckled, "Shall we go then?"

She nodded and headed out the door, "Where are we going today Kurama?"

He started walking in the direction of the forest, "I was thinking that maybe if we went to the area that you used to train in, you might be able to remember a few things."

She nodded, "Hey Kurama, I have a question for you."

"Hm?"

"Are you sure I wasn't seriously close to anyone?"

He tilted his head at her, "What brings this question? Have you remembered anything?"

She nodded, "I've been getting bits and pieces. I believe in every one of them I'm talking to the same person. But if I remember correctly, you said yesterday that I was quite the secretive person. So, this leads to my question."

He looked ahead, "There isn't an easy answer to your question."

She looked at him, "What do you mean?"

He closed his eyes, "Well, I believe that the two of you have feelings for one another but..."

She stood in front of him making him stop, "But what?"

He looked at her, "Neither of you two will admit that you like each other."

She put her hand to her chin, "Who is it?"

He smiled at her, "I will leave you to figure that one out. Maybe then the two of you will be able to admit it."

He continued walking, leaving a very confused Kiren behind him. _'I wonder what he meant by that? Is he meaning himself, or one of the other boys?'_

She shook her head and ran after him, eventually reaching the clearing. Kurama turned towards her and tossed something towards her. She looked at him funny and then caught the object that he had thrown at her. She opened her hand to find a zippo lighter.

She looked up at him confused, "What exactly is this for?"

He smiled at her, "That lighter was always your favorite to use for you fire attacks."

Her eyes widened a bit, "Fire attacks?"

He nodded, "Yes, you are an elemental user. Fire was your most used aside from your metal sword that you make."

An image flashed through her mind of her pulling out a small piece of metal and then turning it into a sword. Another image passed through her mind: a fireball coming from the lighter that was presently in her hand.

She opened the lighter and lit it, staring at the flame. As she was staring at it, another image appeared. She was at a lake in a forest making a flower design out of the water and freezing it.

_Sorry, but you seemed like something was bothering you earlier and I came to see if you wanted someone to talk about it with._

_That obvious huh?_

_Then something related to Hiei?_

_Perceptive aren't you? Yes, but not in the way that you think. Kind of anyway. I snapped at him when I shouldn't have._

The image changed to a different forest but again she was talking with Kurama.

_Do you need to get something off your chest?_

_I don't know what you're talking about._

_I'm just concerned is all._

_Why? You know absolutely nothing about me; you have no obligation to even be talking to me. I'm just someone that Koenma has helping him. If you guys were smart, you'd stay the hell away from me. All I am is trouble. I'm just a nuisance to everyone around me. I never know when something's going to happen._

She looked at Kurama confused, "Why would I tell you that all I was, was trouble?"

He tilted his head at her, "Remembering things?"

She nodded, "A bit, yes. Normally I can't see who I'm talking to, but this time I could tell each time that I was talking to you. It seems you could always tell when I was troubled with something."

He smiled, "Yes, it does seem like that doesn't it? Yes, we did talk a few times when it seemed you were down. But it was only a couple of times."

Kiren smiled, "I'm sorry if I was ever a bother to you."

Kurama chuckled, "You were never a bother. I always enjoyed our talks."

She blushed a little as another memory flashed in her mind.

_I have another side to me Kurama. A side that's not very nice._

_I'm afraid I don't quite understand._

_You're not supposed to. Goodnight Kurama._

_'Another side to me? I'm so confused.'_

"Everything alright Kiren?"

She looked up at him with a smile, "Yes. Just trying to figure out what exactly I'm supposed to do with this lighter."

Kurama returned her smile with a bright one of his own, "Everyone's different but I have a feeling you just used your spirit energy."

"My spirit energy?"

He nodded, "Yes, I do the same thing except with demon energy."

He took out a rose from the back of his hair and transformed it into a thorned whip.

She gasped, "It's beautiful."

"Why thank you. Why don't you give it a try? I'm sure you can do it. You may have lost some of your memory but using your spirit energy should still be like second hand nature to you."

She was puzzled but she closed her eyes and concentrated on the fire from the lighter. A warm feeling started up inside of her. She focused on that and pushed it towards the lighter. When she felt a lot of heat coming from her hand, she opened her eyes and noticed a large fire ball in her hand floating above the lighter. Shocked, she accidentally dropped the lighter, causing the ball to dissipate.

She looked up at Kurama, "I did that?"

He chuckled, "Yes. You were actually going to train with Hiei to create the flame without having to use something to start it. Hiei is a fire demon so you thought that he might be able to help."

"Makes sense. Do you know if I made any progress?"

He shook his head, "Shortly after you had started, we got dragged into another mission."

"What kind of mission was it?"

His face turned grim, "We had to come rescue you. You had been taken from us and we came to get you. After we had returned you were out cold for about a month and then you woke up not remember us."

Her eyes glazed a little, "I'm sorry you had to go through all that trouble just for me."

He walked over to her and hugged her, "It was no trouble. You have become a great friend to us, basically family. We protect our family."

She blushed madly, _'Kurama, what are you doing? I'm getting a really weird feeling though. Again I feel like I'm doing something wrong.'_

A small unheard growl came from a nearby tree. Hiei almost broke the branch that he was hanging onto. _'That damn fox, what does he think he's doing?! Wait a minute, why is this making me so angry? Why do I want to be the one that's hugging her? I don't understand what this feeling is. Could this possibly mean I have certain feelings for her? Feelings I always denied because I prefer to be alone? It's so irritating.'_

His attention turned towards the other two as he heard Kiren speak, "Um, Kurama, can you let me go now?"

"Oh, sorry." He released her and Kiren walked over to a tree near Hiei. Kurama's eyes flashed gold as he walked over to her.

"Something wrong?"

She couldn't meet his eyes, "No, of course not. I'm just not used to this kind of thing."

Kurama put his hands on the tree blocking Kiren to it, "What kind of thing?"

Kiren's face turned as red as a tomato, "U-um Kurama, what are you doing?"

_'What am I doing? I shouldn't be doing this. I know what she means to Hiei and I know what Hiei means to her. Just because she doesn't have memory of it yet doesn't mean anything. She'll get her memories back and then everything can go back to the way it was.'_

"K-Kurama?" _'This is getting extremely out of hand. I don't understand what's going on, but I do know that this doesn't feel right. I think I have feelings for someone else.'_

Kurama leaned in closer to her making the distance between them barely an inch apart.

_'I have to admit that I'm jealous of Hiei. But that stupid idiot keeps denying his feelings and hurting her. If he would've just admitted that he liked her, she wouldn't have run off and then none of this would have happened. She wouldn't have gotten taken from us; she wouldn't have almost gotten killed; and she wouldn't have lost her memory. Damn that Hiei. I should make her mine and save her from more pain.'_

He went in closer and almost met her lips but he was suddenly pushed away from her.

"I'm sorry Kurama, but I'm getting this feeling like I'm betraying someone else. Please excuse me."

He watched her running back to Genkai's until he felt a blade at his neck.

"Hello Hiei. To what do I owe the pleasure of your presence?"

Hiei growled in response, "Just what do you think you're doing you filthy fox?"

Kurama looked at him with hardened eyes, "I'm doing what you seem to never have the courage to do. Why can't you just admit that you like her? All you're doing is causing her pain. If you're not going to admit that you want her as your own, I'm going to take her from you. That's a promise."

Hiei backed away from him and looked at the ground, "I don't know what you're talking about."

Kurama snapped, "Don't kid yourself Hiei! Why do you think you get so angry whenever I get close to her? Why do you think you get so worried about her when she's in trouble? Why do you think you can't help by stay near her at all times and go to her when you know she needs comforting? Just admit that you like her Hiei! I can't stand seeing her constantly in pain because you keep pushing her away for your own damn selfish reasons of being the lone worrier that doesn't need anything or anyone! If you can't, I WILL make her mine."

Kurama stormed off back towards the temple leaving a wide eyed Hiei standing there baffled.

After a moment he closed his eyes and growled, "That damn fox. Spouting off nonsense like that. Who does he think he is?"

He sheathed his sword and turned to follow the other two. Having a hunch, he turned towards the river. After a while of walking he made it there and found that he was right. Sitting by the river was Kiren who looked to be deep in thought.

_'I wondering what she's thinking about.'_

Kiren was staring off into the water, _'I can't believe Kurama did that! He didn't seem to be someone like that. But there was a golden glow in his eyes when he was about to kiss me. Maybe that was his demon side taking over. Still, why did I get that feeling I got? Kurama is very good looking and seems like he'd be a terrific guy to date. Who is it that I'm waiting for and felt like I was betraying? I'm so confused.'_

Tears started forming in her eyes, "Dammit! I hate not being able to remember!"

Hiei came up from behind her and sat next to her. She gasped at his sudden appearance and a couple of tears began to fall.

"I'm sorry Hiei, you startled me."

He didn't respond. Instead he pulled her against him, placing one hand on her back and the other on her head. Memories flooded back to her of this exact same instance happing before.

_'Now this feels right. I guess Hiei was the one that I was closest to. I wonder why I haven't told him though.'_

"I'm sorry about what Kurama did. I guess he was just trying to tell me something. But I don't want to say anything if you don't remember anything."

"I remember you holding me like this before. I'm sorry that I can't remember everything."

He started sifting through her hair, "It's alright. Everything will come with time."

After a while of sitting like that they started back towards the temple. Yuske was outside and when he saw them a big smile came across his face.

"Hey you two! And just what were you two doing?"

Kiren remembered him saying this before and glared at him, "You don't remember my threat from the last time that you cracked a joke about that do you?"

He sweatdropped as Kiren started running towards him with her hands balled into fists. She chased him around the yard trying to hit him.

"I'm sorry Kiren! I promise I won't do it again!"

"Yuske, are you causing trouble again?"

The two stopped and looked at where the voice had come from to find Keiko standing there.

Yuske ran up to her smiling, "Hey Keiko! How's it going?"

She crossed her arms across her chest, "I was seeing how Kiren was doing. Genkai filled us girls in on what happened and figured she might need a girls' day out away from you guys."

Kiren blushed, "That sounds nice, but I would prefer to stay here. I'm slowly remembering things and I don't want them to stop."

Keiko smiled at her, "Not a problem. Just give me a call when you want to hang out."

Kiren nodded and watched as she left. Kurama showed up from the temple. Kiren backed up a little.

"H-hello Kurama."

A sad look crossed his face for a moment before he put on a smile, "I just wanted to apologize for earlier. I was completely out of line."

Hiei stood in front of her blocking her from Kurama's view, "Why don't you just leave her alone for now?"

Kurama looked down at the ground and nodded before walking away heading for town to go home. Yuske looked back and forth between Kurama and Hiei and finally settled on Hiei with a confused look.

"Do I even wanna know what happened?"

A glare from Hiei was his only answer and he quickly ran back into the temple.

Kiren stared at Hiei's back, "I'm sorry. I wish it wasn't like this."

He turned to face her, "It's alright. Everything will come back to you in due time."

She nodded and walked towards the door in the temple, "I'm feeling a little tired so I'm going to go lay down. Can we talk later?"

He nodded and she went into the temple. Hiei hopped into his normal tree and stared at Kiren's window.

_'I hope her memories come back soon.'_

* * *

_And there's chapter 15! ^_^ Please let me know what you think! _


	16. Chapter 16

_I'm feeling pretty good! Two updates in one week! ^_^ Here is chapter 16! ^_^ Please enjoy!_

* * *

Hiei couldn't manage to fall asleep. What the fox had snapped at him kept going around in his mind.

_'Admit that I like her huh? I'll admit I feel something for her. Is it really that I have _those _kinds of feelings for her? I know I feel protective of her, and I was really scared of losing her when she was taken by Genji. And those memories I got to see pissed me off so much.'_

He turned and looked at her open window. She had started leaving it open for him after they started hanging out at night together. He got up and jumped through her window, landing soundlessly on her floor. He looked over at her and let a small smile spread on his face when he saw her sleeping form. Her breathing was even, and her face seemed at peace. He brought over the chair that was at her desk and straddled it backwards watching her sleep.

_'I don't know how to respond to 'feelings' that I feel when I look at her. I never thought I would be put into this situation. Before I met Kurama and Yuske, I thought that I was forever meant to be alone. I didn't think I would ever feel like I belong anywhere. Then I met Kurama and Yuske and started feeling like I had a place in this world. And then I met her. She annoyed me at first but as time went by I got this sense of calming. I blame the others for this but I suppose now I can somewhat understand the fox's reasons for saving his human mother.'_

He reached out his hands and brushed back her bangs. An idea hit him as he touched her forehead. Now that she was actually conscious, he might be able to get into her head while she was asleep. He moved out of the chair and sat on the bed, putting his forehead to hers. He closed his eyes and concentrated on her mind. He shut out everything else around him.

Everything was pitch black at first. Looking around he didn't see anything. He wasn't about to give up though. He delved a little deeper, trying to find something. After a while of looking, something finally caught his eye. In a corner somewhere, he saw a little girl with sterling silver eyes and hair sitting next to another little girl with matching eyes and hair. He could almost mistake them as twins.

_'That must be Kiren and Riku. But, wasn't Riku's hair brown when we were at Raido's mansion?'_

The two girls looked up at him. The taller of the two spoke.

"What are you doing here? You don't belong here!"

His eyes widened a little, "You can see me?"

The one who spoke stood up, "Of course we can. We're the guardians here, we see all who enter."

He quirked an eyebrow, "Guardians? Guardians of what exactly?"

She crossed her arms and glared at him, "Why do you think we would tell you?"

The smaller one got up and a put a hand on the taller one's shoulder, "Riku, it's ok. I've seen him in some of the memories. He is precious to my actual self."

Riku glared at her, "Kiren! You shouldn't speak so freely!"

He gasped, "Kiren? As in the one that I'm currently in the mind of?"

Little Kiren nodded, "Yes, little Riku and I are guardians of Kiren's memories. After the Genji incident we thought it would be best to lock the memories away in a place that only we could get to."

Hiei crossed his arms, "Then you two must be the reason that Kiren has lost her memories."

Little Kiren looked to the ground, "That wasn't our intention. However, I guess the result of us locking them away from others, also locked them away from Kiren."

Little Riku continued for her, "We've let a few loose to see if our theory was correct, and we are. Kiren was able to remember the few memories that we've let out of our hiding spot."

Hiei stared at Riku, "You do know that Genji is no longer in her mind right? You can let her memories out now."

Little Riku balled her hands into fists, "Yeah, he's out for now! But who's to say that something like that doesn't happen again?! It's far too risky!"

He glared at her, "Do you even know what you're doing to Kiren?! She's beating herself up because she can't remember anything. It's even made her cry because she got so frustrated that she couldn't remember anything!"

Little Kiren's eyes glazed over, "We know. As well as keeping the old memories hidden, we do see the new ones that arise."

Hiei started getting irritated, "Then how can you continue this?! Don't you want her to be happy?! We can protect her from people getting in. You have nothing to worry about."

Little Riku smirked at him, "Oh really? Then how do you explain what happened with that bastard Genji? Where were you to protect her then?"

He quickly looked away at the ground, "That was an accident. I wasn't thinking when I spoke to her and ended up making her run away. I won't let that happen again!"

Little Kiren walked in front of little Riku, "I don't believe that."

Hiei quickly looked up at her, "And why not?!"

She crossed her arms and hardened her eyes, "You can't even admit that you're falling in love with her to yourself. You're just going to end up pushing her away again! If you can't admit what you feel for her, then we have no reason to give her her memories back."

Little Riku stood next to her little sister, "That's right! You don't know what will hurt her and make her run again."

He closed his eyes and balled up his fists, "I'm sorry that I hurt her and made her run. I've never been well in tuned with my feelings. I was abandoned at birth for what I was and grew up alone and betrayed by everyone. I didn't even start trusting anyone until I met Kurama and Yuske."

He looked up at the two, "Over time, my cold heart began to melt its walls a little bit. I was still untrustworthy of anyone else. And then I met Kiren. I hated her at first, and Mazuki was the only reason that I even talked to her. But, over time, I've gotten to feel comfortable around her. She talks to me. She won't talk to anyone else."

Little Riku smirked, "That's still not good enough."

He looked at little Kiren, "I've grown protective of her. At first I thought it was just the same as what I felt towards my sister, Yukina. But when I thought of that, some other feeling came up disregarding that. I didn't know what to think and it irritated me that I couldn't understand it. Any time she got hurt I got this pain in my chest. When she was taken by that damned Genji, I was so scared I was going lose her. When I felt that fear, I didn't know what I would do if I were to ever lose her. And then when the fox ever got too close to her I got so mad I wanted to rip the red head to pieces. It made me so frustrated that I didn't understand any of it. I have never known feelings like these, I grew up without them. But after that fox snapped at me, I've finally started to realize what they were."

Little Kiren smiled at him, "So why haven't you told her yet?"

A small smile graced his lips, "I wanted to wait until she remembered everything. Everything that we'd been through together. I wanted her to remember the feelings she grew for me. Right now she's confused. She knows she has feelings for someone but she can't remember who. And that damn fox isn't helping the situation by trying to take her from me."

Little Kiren held little Riku's hands, "Well sister, do you think he's spilled his guts enough to let them go?"

She sighed, "I hate the fact that you're a part of her. She has an influence on you."

Little Kiren giggled, "I'm sorry."

Her smile faded as she looked at Hiei, "If you ever let anything happen to her again, we won't be so forgiving next time."

Hiei nodded as little Riku spoke up, "To make this work you have to get out of her mind."

He nodded again, "Right."

He slowly made his way out of her mind. When he was fully out, he looked down at Kiren. Her brows were furrowed together and she was whimpering a little. He picked her up and cradled her in his arms. Tears started rolling down her face and she started thrashing in his arms.

He was bound and determined though. He tightened his grip a little, but made sure that he wasn't hurting her. After what seemed like forever, she eventually stopped moving. He thought the worst for the moment until her eyes started opening. She blinked a few times and looked around her surroundings. Soon she realized she was in his arms and her face turned bright red.

Her voce stuttered a little, "H-h-hi H-H-Hiei."

He smiled, _'She's adorable when she's like this.'_

She couldn't look him in the eyes, "Um, Hiei, is there a reason that you're holding me like this?"

He chuckled, "Well, answer me this: Do you remember anything?"

Her eyes widened, "Oh my gosh! I can remember everything!"

She smiled and wrapped her arms around his neck hugging him. After a moment though she released him and scooted away from him.

He tilted his head at her, "What's wrong?"

Tears returned to her face, "I'm ashamed of myself."

"What for?"

She brought her knees to her chest, "I almost let Kurama kiss me. And I actually started to like him. The whole time I felt like I was betraying someone but I didn't know who."

He grabbed her and brought her to his chest, "And who was it that you were betraying?"

She gasped, _'What am I babbling about?! I haven't admitted to Hiei yet what I feel for him! I must sound like a complete idiot!'_

She shook her head, "I'm sorry. It's nothing. I'm just babbling. I don't even know what I'm talking about."

Hiei turned her around so she was facing him and tilted her face upwards towards his, "I don't think you're babbling."

He leaned in a little closer to where their lips were almost touching, "Now, tell me who you thought you were betraying."

Feeling his hot breath so close to her made her mind go blank for a moment. She took a deep breath taking in his smell of pine and charcoal, "You, Hiei, I thought I was betraying you."

He smirked, "Now why would you think that?"

She moved away from him and sat on the windowsill staring at the moon, "I've been trying to deny it for a while now. Ever since I lost Riku, I've been afraid to get close to anyone else. It got stuck in my head that if I got close to anyone else, the same thing would happen. So, I made sure to keep my distance from others."

Hiei got off the bed and stood behind her.

"But then I met you guys. I gave you guys so many opportunities to turn tail and leave. But none of you ever did. And then I started hanging out with you a lot. The more I hung out with you, the more these feelings started forming. I knew I shouldn't have them; I knew I should've distanced myself from you, but I just got drawn in more and more. Even though I knew the only reason that you were even talking to me was because of Mazuki, but even so, I just became more attached to you. Talking about my past to you felt right. Everything felt like nothing go wrong. And then Genji showed up."

Tears formed in her eyes, "I didn't want to worry you but when he showed up, I blanked. I was so scared that I couldn't move. And after everything that happened with that bastard, I lost my memory. Deep down I knew I was close to someone, but I didn't know who. And then Kurama got added into the picture. I couldn't remember anything so I didn't know any better. Feelings started to form a little bit. A little highschool girl crush. But at the same time, it hurt right here."

She raised her arm to her chest as a couple of tears fell down her face, "I couldn't remember why and it frustrated me so. Now that I remember everything, I know why it hurt."

She closed her eyes, "Even though I had lost my memories, I still had strong feelings for you even though I didn't know it at the time. I feel ashamed and I feel like I betrayed you Hiei; even though I know my feelings won't be returned."

Hiei hugged her from behind causing her to gasp, "Who said your feelings wouldn't be returned?"

Her eyes widened, "W-w-what are you saying Hiei?"

He tightened his grip a little, "What I should've done when I finally realized what it was that I felt for you."

Before she could answer, Hiei quickly turned her around and covered her lips with his own. She was stunned for a moment but soon closed her eyes and wrapped her arms around his neck. When they broke apart, Kiren's face was as red as a tomato. She quickly hid her face in his chest trying to make sure he didn't see how badly she was blushing.

Hiei closed his eyes and rested his chin on her head, "I'm not used to things like this, so please...don't...don't run away again. I'm sorry for anything I've said that has hurt you."

She smiled, "I won't. I promise. I'm not exactly used to things like this either so you'll have to forgive me as well."

He smiled, "Seems we're going to have to work on this together."

She nodded, "Hey Hiei?"

"Hm?"

"Would...would you stay here tonight?"

He chuckled, "Of course."

Kiren got off of the window sill and layed back down on her bed. Hiei layed behind her, putting his arm around her.

She smiled as she closed her eyes, "Thank you Hiei."

"And thank you Kiren."

They both fell into a deep, relaxed sleep.

* * *

Kurama walked up to the doors to Genkai's temple and stared at them for a while.

_'I really need to apologize. I wonder how furious Hiei is at me. And Kiren must think of me as nothing but a letch.'_

He sighed and opened the doors. Walking in, he was met by Genkai.

He smiled, "Good morning Genkai. Has Kiren come downstairs yet?"

She shook her head, "No, that lazy bum. She should be in her room yet."

He nodded, "Thank you"

He went upstairs and knocked on her door. He waited a few minutes before knocking again. When he didn't get an answer on the second knock, he feared that she had run away again. When that thought struck him he quickly opened the door and immediately stopped.

He smiled when he looked at her bed. Kiren was snuggled up against his chest and Hiei had his arm wrapped around her protectively.

_'Well, that's something I never expected to see. I guess my theory worked. Although, I am a little bit sad that I don't have a chance anymore. I should let them sleep.'_

He closed the door and walked back downstairs. He nodded goodbye to Genkai and walked outside. As he walked outside he ran into Keiko. He put on a quick smile.

"Good morning Keiko."

She smiled back at him, "Good morning Kurama."

"You going to see Kiren?"

She nodded, "Yup. I was hoping she'd take up my offer of having a girls' day out today."

He gave her a soft smile, "That is so kind of you Keiko. Although, she is presently asleep. I would wait a bit before waking her."

"Thanks Kurama. I'll just wait downstairs for her."

He nodded and went on his way.

* * *

Kiren slowly opened her eyes. She blinked a few times and then realized that she was cuddled up next to Hiei. Last night flashed through her mind and she face went red.

_'That's right, last night...'_

Her thoughts trailed off as Hiei stirred awake. He looked down at her and smiled.

"Good morning."

She returned his smile, "Good morning. How'd you sleep?"

He closed his eyes and put his forehead against hers, "Best I've slept in years. Yourself?"

She closed her eyes, "Same."

He lifted her face to his and gave her a quick good morning kiss. She blushed and got out of bed.

"I'm going to take a shower quick."

She went to her dresser and pulled out an outfit and then went to her bathroom. Hiei watched her every move and smiled as she shyly closed the door. After about an hour she came out dressed in a dark blue tank top with jean shorts that cut off at her knees. She had her hair in a high ponytail. She looked at Hiei and smiled.

"Hungry?"

He nodded and they both went downstairs where they were met by Keiko.

Kiren smiled, "Why hello there Keiko! To what do we owe the pleasure?"

Keiko smirked, "We're going shopping!"

Kiren sweatdropped, "Well, this should be interesting."

* * *

_And there is chapter 16! ^_^ I caved. I wanted them to kiss soooooooo badly! XD Please don't be mad at me! Reviews please?_


	17. Chapter 17

_I've been in a writing mood lately apparently XD lol Here's chapter 17! ^_^ I hope you like it!_

* * *

Keiko smiled at her response, "Oh come now, you make it sound like we're going to torture you."

Kiren laughed, "No, of course not. You just seem so energetic today."

Keiko grabbed her hand and drug her towards the door. Kiren looked behind her and waved at a stunned Hiei. She mouthed 'sorry' as Keiko basically threw her outside.

Keiko giggled and started down the stairs, "Come on Kiren! The rest of the girls are waiting for us at the bottom of the stairs!"

Kiren smiled and followed her down Genkai's stairs of death. When they reached the bottom, Kiren was tackled by Botan.

"Kiren! I've missed you SO much!"

She laughed, "Hey there Botan. Nice to see you too."

Shizuru took a drag of her never ending cigarette and smirked, "Hey there kid, how's it going?"

Yukina stood next to Shizuru with a bright smile, "Good morning Kiren. It is a pleasure to see you again!"

Kiren tilted her head cutely at her, "You're so adorable Yukina!"

Yukina blushed as Shizuru patted Kiren on the back, "Alright, let's not keep the cab waiting!"

Everyone nodded and got in the cab to go into town. They dragged Kiren to the first store that they came across. It was a dress shop; definitely not a store Kiren wanted to be in.

Keiko had a big smile on her face, "Come on Kiren! Pick out some you thing you want!"

Kiren put her hands up, "I'm not big on dresses."

Botan came up behind them with an armful of dresses, "Oh come on Kiren! You need some new outfits! And these will be gorgeous on you!"

She grabbed Kiren's hand and pushed her into the dressing room, throwing the dresses at her.

_'I guess I should humor them.'_

After an hour of trying on dresses she finally settled on a slim red one with black roses on it. She thought they were done with her but she was wrong. They took her to another store and threw pants and shirts at her. She chose a few pairs of blue jeans, a couple of plain tank tops, and a couple of other nicer looking ones hoping that that would satisfy the girls.

They exited the store and started down the sidewalk. Kiren looked over at Keiko, "We're done now right? I don't think I could stand to be in a changing room again."

She chuckled, "Well, it's about lunch time, let's grab something to eat."

Kiren sighed in relief as they searched for something to eat. After a bit of walking they decided on a ramen stand. Once they ordered, Kiren looked over at Keiko.

"So what's with this sudden shopping trip?"

She looked down at the table, "Genkai told us about what happened. So, we were hoping maybe a shopping trip with just us girls would help with not being able to remember everything."

Botan smiled at Kiren, "Being with those boys all the time must be quite a hassle. We thought you might need a break from them."

Shizuru took a drag of her smoke and exhaled, "You need to be a girl every once in a while."

Yukina gave a sweet smile, "That you do. So we thought to have a girls' day out."

Kiren giggled, "You guys are so sweet. Thank you. Although I can tell you that I have my memories back."

Botan's eyes went wide, "WHAT! WHEN DID THIS HAPPEN?!"

The other four girls covered their ears. Shizuru slapped Botan on the back of the head.

"Quiet down Botan. You're attracting unwanted attention."

Botan looked around and noticed that everyone else in the restaurant was staring at their table. She sweatdropped and hung her head.

"I'm sorry. I'm just so surprised."

Keiko smiled, "How did it come about?"

Last night went through her head and she blushed madly, not being able to speak.

Shizuru smirked, "Awww, what's with the blushing? What happened?"

Kiren looked down, "Well, um, last night, um."

Keiko smirked as well, "Come on Kiren, spill it."

She gave shy smile, "Well, I'm not for certain, but I think Hiei had something to do with it. I woke up to him holding me and he asked me if I remembered anything. Since he's a telepath, I think he was the reason I got my memories back."

Shizuru patted her on the back, "So, anything else happen last night?"

Kiren's blush got even darker, "I-I-I don't know what you're talking about!"

Yukina smiled, "Aww, look at that face."

Keiko hugged Kiren, "You look SO cute!"

Shizuru took another drag of her smoke and smirked exhaling through her nose, "You and the short stuff hooked up didn't you?"

Keiko's eyes got big and sparkly, "Is that true Kiren!"

She gave a nervous smile, "Um, well, I guess you could say that. He did kiss me."

Yukina gave a sweet smile, "I'm so happy for you!"

Botan gave her cat smile, "I knew it was going to happen eventually. Hiei never could keep his eyes off of you."

Kiren played with her hair, "Oh, I don't know about that."

Kiren was saved from all the attention as their food arrived. They chatted while they ate. After they were done, they made their way back to Genkai's. She waved goodbye to them and went inside and up to her room to drop her things off. She didn't see Hiei around so she decided to go for a walk towards the clearing.

_'I still can't believe Hiei kissed me. He seemed so interested in Mazuki, I never thought that he'd get interested in me. He didn't seem like the kind of guy to get interested in a girl. Last night made me so happy.'_

Before her thoughts could continue, she heard voices in the distance. She snuck behind a tree and peeked around it to see Kurama and Hiei talking.

Kurama had a smile on his face, "So, it seems you finally admitted your feelings for Kiren."

Hiei's eye twitched, "How do you know that?"

He chuckled, "I was going to apologize to her this morning but when I opened the door, I was welcomed to you two cuddling with each other. It was truly a magnificent sight."

Hiei growled, "Making fun of me?"

Kurama shook his head, "No, I'm just saying I'm happy for you."

He closed his eyes, "Hn. Whatever. What'd you bring me out here for anyway?"

Kurama put on a smile, "I just wanted to apologize for before. I know it was wrong of me to make a move on her. My true purpose was just to get close to her to annoy you and get you to admit your feelings for her. I guess Yoko got the best of me. I'm sorry."

Hiei glared at him a little, "Why do I get the feeling there's more than that?"

Kurama's face got serious, "I've been feeling a weird energy around here. I can't pinpoint it so I just thought I would let you know so you can keep an eye out as well."

Hiei glared a little, "Do you think it's Genji?"

Kurama's eyes hardened, "It might be. But it's consistently moving; it never stays in the same place long enough for me to investigate. I'm hoping it's not him but one can never know. I didn't want to worry Kiren. The horror she went through because of that man."

Kiren put her back against the tree, _'That asshole could possibly be back? I don't wanna go back to the creepy lab.'_

Her thoughts were interrupted when she felt another energy suddenly appear in the distance. She instantly knew who it was. A shiver ran down her spine, _'I can't be scared for forever. Let's just get rid of him.'_

She snuck away from where she was and followed the energy. She knew it was just a trap to get her alone, but she was going to face this. She didn't want to be taken away from Hiei ever again. She got out of it ok the last time, but her luck wasn't going to last forever.

It seemed to be forever but she finally came to another clearing. Genji stood before her.

"Ah, I see you have finally come to me my little flower. Do you feel like talking to me this time?"

_'Gross. Can this guy get any creepier?'_

"You're still not being very talkative my dear."

Kiren glared at him, "I don't talk to creepy, disgusting people like you."

He smirked at her, "Such fire in your eyes. It is so captivating."

She dug into her back pocket and grabbed her piece of metal and turned it into a sword.

Genji busted out laughing, "So, you want to fight me? This should be quite entertaining. Do I get something out of this if I win?"

Instead of answering him, she lunged at him with her sword above her head. She brought it down as she got closer to him but he blocked it with a simple scalpel.

He grinned, "You're not strong enough to beat me!"

He added a little more power and sent Kiren flying backwards. She flipped in the air and landed on her feet, sword up and ready.

"We'll see about that!"

She charged at him again, sword high above her head. Just as she reached him, she dropped her sword catching him completely off guard. In his stunned state, she took the liberty of slamming both of her fists into his stomach. As she pulled back she sent him flying with a kick to the head. She picked her sword back up and stood in a defensive position.

Genji stood back up and wiped the blood from his mouth, "Not bad. You must be hanging out with that Urameshi brat too much."

She smirked, "No, it's called I grew up with Genkai."

He let out a high pitched laugh, "Or, a third option."

She raised an eyebrow, "A third option?"

He nodded, "Yes, Mazuki could be influencing you."

_'That bastard will try anything to get anything about her out. He just pisses me off!'_

She felt around her surroundings seeing if there was anything that she could use. She could faintly hear running water close by. _'Perfect.' _

She grabbed her lighter out of her pocket and created a huge fireball and threw it at him and took off at a quick pace to find the water. Genji deflected the fireball and took off after her. In a matter of seconds they were at a lake. She ran up to the edge of it and turned around to face Genji. She barely brought her sword up in time to block a slice from his scalpel. The force of the blow knocked her back into the water. Genji stood at the edge, not following her in.

She smirked at him, "Scared of a little water Genji?"

He grinned, "No, just debating what I should do next."

He jumped towards her with his scalpel ready to slice down on her. She grinned widely and focused her energy on the water. A huge geyser rose up and wrapped itself around Genji. He struggled trying to get out of it but nothing he did made it budge.

"You stupid bitch!"

Kiren looked at him, making him gasp. Her eyes were navy blue.

"I was right! You and Mazuki are one in the same!"

Mazuki chuckled, "Oh no dear boy, we are not one in the same. Kiren here is just my little vessel to keep bastards like you from finding me. Now, do you want to see what happens to people who almost kill my host?"

Genji started screaming as the water that held him started freezing. Eventually, his screams were silenced; everything was frozen.

Mazuki giggled hysterically and then jumped into the air kicked the frozen block resulting it smashing into thousands of pieces. As she landed, her hands went to her head.

"No, must keep control. Must keep control. Must keep control."

She screamed at the top of her lungs trying to keep sane. Her scream echoed all through the forest to the two demons that were conversing with each other.

Kurama looked in the direction that it was coming from, "That sounded like-"

Hiei cut him off and raced in the direction that he could hear the scream. It took him a few minutes but he found it. He stood wide eyed at the scene before him. Just like Yuske's energy swarmed around him at the dark tournament, Kiren's was swirling around her like it didn't know where to go. What shocked him more was that Kiren's features were changing. Her eyes were already blue when he had arrived but now her hair was extending down to her feet and changed to a black color with red and silver streaks. Her body stature changed too. He couldn't recognize her as Kiren anymore.

Kurama came up behind him and gasped, "Hiei, do you think-"

He cut him off grimly, "Yes, she is no longer Kiren. I believe Mazuki is standing before us now."

After a few moments, the energy stabilized and Mazuki looked up at the two with a deadly grin.

"Well, it seems like I have some visitors. From your energies I assume you are demon as well?"

Kurama tilted his head, "You don't know who we are?"

She chuckled to herself, "Nope. Is there any reason that I should? You're going to die soon anyway."

Hiei growled, "This must be one of those moments where she has no control. She's just going to go around blindly killing anything."

Kurama brought out his rose whip, "Looks like we're going to have to fight her. Any ideas of how to get Kiren back out?"

He shook his head, "Not really. The only thing I can really think of knocking her out. But that doesn't seem like it's going to be easy."

Mazuki smirked, "You two talk too much."

Water came out of the lake and circled around her right hand and turned into an ice sword while her other hand engulfed in flames. She launched a large fireball at them causing them to lose sight of her and she quickly reappeared behind them slashing her ice sword. Hiei blocked with his katana.

He glanced over at Kurama, "Go and get Genkai. She might know how to change her back."

Kurama nodded and quickly ran towards the temple.

_'Don't kill her Hiei. And don't get killed yourself.'_

_'I know you stupid fox, now hurry!'_

He severed the connection and forced her off of him, "Mazuki! What are you doing? Kiren wouldn't want you to do this!"

She chuckled darkly, "Kiren you say? I'm afraid I don't know who you're talking about."

"Your other half that shares that body with you. You once told us to stay away from her because something like this might happen."

She glared at him, "I don't share this body with anyone! This body is mine alone! No more talking!"

She lunged at him and punched him square in the jaw, causing him to slam into a nearby tree. He stood up and wiped the blood trickling down his chin.

_'This isn't going to be easy. She's stronger than I ever imagined. I wonder what happened to bring her out. I need to figure out a way to get Kiren back.'_

His thoughts were interrupted when he had to jump out of the way of a fireball. As he jumped out of the way, Mazuki appeared behind him and kicked him the head. He landed on the ground and slid a few feet, his arms up by his face in preparation for another hit. He blocked her next punch and thrust his fist forward into her stomach. She only staggered a little bit before kicking him in the head again. Before he hit the ground she was in front of him and punched him in the gut.

He landed on the ground, a large crater forming from the impact. He sat up and coughed up some blood. He didn't have much time for a reprieve though, Mazuki had her metal sword raised above her head and it was aiming straight for Hiei's head. He raised his katana just in time to block her sword.

He didn't know how much more of this he could take. She was definitely stronger than he thought. _'Damn fox, hurry up!'_

* * *

Kurama quickly opened the doors into Genkai's temple and ran to the living room. There he found Genkai playing a video game against Yuske.

Yuske turned and looked at him, "What's up Kurama? Something wrong?"

Kurama nodded and looked at Genkai, "Yes, Mazuki has arisen. We're not exactly sure how but we also don't know how to change her back."

Genkai's eyes widened, "The only way that I know how is either to knock her out or make her use up all of her energy. Hurry, take me to her."

Yuske stood up with Genkai, "I'm going too. If it's a long lasting fight needed, I'll grant it."

Kurama nodded and the three of them ran into the forest as fast as they could.

* * *

Mazuki knocked Hiei's katana out of his hands and side kicked at his head. Hiei barely got out of the way but she was soon behind him again and punched him in the back sending him into another tree.

She stood there and watched him get back up, "Why are you even bothering trying to fight me? You're just going to get killed."

He panted a little, "Because the real host of that body means more to me than anything and I will get her back!"

She tilted her head, "I still don't get what you're talking about. I don't share this body with anyone. I think I would know if I did."

He fell to his knees, "Not in this state. Normally, you and Kiren are quite aware of each other. The last time that you came out, the only thing that changed was Kiren's eye color. This time, everything's completely changed. Which leads me to conclude that this is one of those 'out of control' moments that Kiren warned us about."

She shrugged her shoulders, "I think you're nuts. And this is way too much talking. I think I'm going to kill you now."

"I don't think so lady!"

Mazuki looked over in the direction that the voice came from.

Yuske smirked, "I'm going to have to tease Kiren. Your body looks a hell of a lot better than hers."

Hiei growled, "Shut up detective."

Yuske giggled, "Just kidding Hiei. Anyway, how about me and you duke it out now Mazuki?"

She looked between Hiei and Yuske, "Yes, you do seem to be a better opponent at the moment. Let's go!"

She disappeared. Yuske looked around trying to find her. He couldn't until he felt a punch to the back of his head. He quickly whipped around and kicked her in the side. She glared at him and disappeared again.

Genkai ran over to Hiei as he was slowly standing, using the tree to keep him steady.

"Are you alright?"

He nodded, "Yeah, it'll take more than that to kill me."

She smirked, "No, I suppose not."

Kurama came up behind her with a smile, "Looks like she gave you a rough time."

Hiei glared at him, "I'd like to see you take her on."

He giggled, "No, I think I'll leave her to Yuske for now."

They looked over at the fight; it was almost too fast for them to see. They were throwing kicks and punches so fast that it just looked like flashes of light.

Eventually they separated with Mazuki grinning at him, "You're not too bad kid."

Yuske grinned back at her, "You're not too bad yourself."

She laughed, "Let's say we end this. One final blow between the two of us."

Yuske chuckled, "You read my mind."

He charged up his finger for his spirit gun. He gasped when he saw her do the same thing.

"You know of the spirit gun?!"

She smirked, "I know enough of the spirit detectives that Koenma makes to know what their main moves are."

He smirked back at her, "Alright then, this should be interesting."

The both fired at the same time, their energies meeting in the middle. The balls of energy battled it out for what seemed like forever but eventually they exploded. The explosion sent Yuske and Mazuki flying backwards. The others held their arms in their face as a huge wind surrounded the area. When everything died down, Hiei was desperately looking for Kiren. He saw a figure laying by the lake and quickly ran over. He found Kiren back to her usual self albeit unconscious. He smiled, _'It's good to have you back.'_

Yuske walked up beside him holding his shoulder, "She packs quite a punch."

He nodded, "That she does."

Genkai joined them, "Let's get everyone back to the temple."

He nodded and Genkai picked up Kiren and they all ran back to her place. Genkai put Kiren on her bed. She left for a moment and came back with bandages. After she was finished she got up and walked to the door.

"She shouldn't be asleep for too long."

Hiei nodded and Genkai left, closing the door behind her. Hiei brushed her bangs from her face and layed his hand on top of hers. After a few hours she stirred awake.

She groaned, "Why do I feel like I got hit by a bus?"

He chuckled softly, "What's the last thing you remember?"

She sat up slowly, wincing a little, "I remember fighting that damn bastard Genji. I had him surrounded by water and that's the last thing I remember."

Her eyes went wide as she looked at him, "Oh my gosh! Hiei! What happened to you?!"

He brought his hand to her face, "Nothing really. I'm more worried about you."

She looked down at her lap, "She came out again didn't she?"

He nodded, "Though it was different then the last time."

She gasped, "Oh no. I am so sorry Hiei!"

He smiled, "It's alright. Nothing was seriously damaged. And she gave Yuske a good fight. I'm sure he was happy with that."

Tears formed in her eyes. He wiped away the few that fell, "What's wrong?"

She got off of the bed and went to the window, "She could've killed you guys. This was what I was worried about. When she fully emerges as herself, she has no recollection of me or anyone that I know or care about. She has no care in the world who gets hurt as long as she can cause some destruction. I knew I shouldn't have stayed here!"

Hiei grabbed her hand, "Like I said, it's something we can deal with. You shouldn't worry about it."

She took her hand out of his grasp and put her hands to her face as tears rolled down them, "You shouldn't have to deal with anything! You should be able to be with someone that doesn't have a second side that can come out and kill anything in her path. You deserve better Hiei."

He sighed and got up off the bed and stood in front of her, "I don't want anyone else. I want the beautiful woman standing in front of me who shouldn't be crying."

She looked up at him to see him smiling at her, "I really shouldn't be here Hiei. One of these times she's going to come out and kill you and I couldn't handle that."

He put a finger to her lips, "Shhh, no need for talk like that. Trust me, everything will be fine."

He wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled her closer to him. He put his other hand underneath her chin and lifted it up and gently kissed her soft lips. She closed her eyes and wrapped her arms around his neck, deepening the kiss and pulling him as close to her as she could. His hand that was on her chin traced down her neck and her sides causing her to shiver. He lifted her up and walked her over to the bed, not once breaking the kiss. He layed her on her back and hovered above her.

The kiss finally broke and she stared up at him, "You're taking a big risk staying with me ya know."

He smiled at her, "Well, I think you're a risk worth taking."

He nipped at her neck for a moment and then gave her another kiss before laying next to her and wrapping his arm around her.

She smiled, "Thank you Hiei. Good night."

* * *

_And there is Chapter 17! ^_^ I'm sorry if the fight scenes suck. I've never been the greatest at them. But you're gonna have to endure with me for what the next mission is going to be ^_^'' Hope you enjoyed! Reviews are always welcome! :)_


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